Lumenate: A Journey Through Light And Sound
Created by a team of neuroscientists and technologists in the UK, and supported by leading researchers including Carhart-Harris, Chris Timmerman, and Anil Seth, the Lumenate app promises something intriguingly different: “a guided portal into altered states of consciousness – using nothing more than your smartphone’s flashlight and sound.” Lumenate claims to help users access deep meditative states, creativity boosts, and even psychedelic-like experiences – with no substances required.
Similar to the Anja Light, Lumenate uses stroboscopic light modulation, which essentially means your phone’s flashlight flickers at precise frequencies designed to influence brainwave activity. Combined with binaural beats and immersive soundscapes, these sessions aim to coax your mind into altered states: ranging from focused clarity to dreamlike introspection. While it’s not quite a replacement for psychedelics, some anecdotes suggest that the sensations are undeniably profound. They range from seeing swirling patterns behind closed eyelids, to feeling a sense of weightlessness, or experience an internal narrative shift akin to deep meditation or breath-work.
Use is simple: “Get yourself comfortable, turn your phone so the flashlight is facing you, close your eyes then fall effortlessly into a calming and immersive journey through a constantly shifting kaleidoscope of colours created by your subconscious…” The stated benefits range between: “exploring your mind (breaking free from ‘stuck’ patterns and uncovering powerful insights), relaxation (quietening brain ‘chatter’ and becoming present), and sleeping better (using neural entrainment to actively guide your brain to the early stages of sleep onset).”
The team are also crowdfunding for an eye-mask version, as well as running group experiences that make use of a “custom designed 360 degree stroboscopic light to guide a circle of participants into a unique, deeply meditative, semi-psychedelic brain state. Combined with intention setting and integration exercises, led by our skilled facilitators, we transform this enjoyable experience into a powerful platform for personal growth and self discovery.” According to the creators, Lumenate’s light sequences have been tested for safety, and are not recommended for those with photosensitive epilepsy or certain neurological conditions.
Entertaining Neural Entrainment
Lumenate state that their app is able to create altered-states of consciousness through a concept known as neural entrainment. This is a phenomenon where the brain’s electrical activity, or brainwaves, synchronise with the frequency of an external stimulus, such as sound or light. This process is based on the natural tendency of the brain to match its frequency to that of an external rhythmic stimulus, a concept known as the frequency following response. Through this neural synchronisation, it is then possible to softly guide the brain into an altered-state of consciousness between that of deep meditation and psychedelics. In Lumenate’s case, this is achieved using the phone’s flashlight strobed at research-backed frequencies on the user’s closed eyes.
The evidence relies on the experiential findings from Bartossek (2021) and Schwartzman (2019) where visual entrainment resulted in users experiencing “visual, ego and imagination-based effects with an intensity rated to be similar in strength to effects induced by psychedelic substances.” Alongside these striking subjective effects, increased EEG signal diversity has also been measured within this stroboscopic-induced state. Within psychedelic states, this increased signal diversity is often associated with the rich and unusual perceptual and cognitive phenomena experienced. Some publications have even gone as far as to name this a measure of a ‘higher state of consciousness.’
Additionally research has also shown that this stroboscopic altered state also leads to a reduction in peak alpha activity and a reduction of activity within the default mode network (DMN). This is associated with self-referential thought and ego identity, and also tends to become less active during psychedelic states, contributing to experiences of ego dissolution and altered self-experience. Lumenate is currently working with Freie Universität Berlin to conduct an fMRI study to fully validate this.
Sourcing Stroboscopic Sedatives
For such a simple app, Lumenate’s claims seem bold – can such small pulses of stroboscopic light genuinely entrain neural oscillations in practice? Are subjective experiences of insight or ego dissolution plausible without chemical modulation of neurotransmission? What do they mean? And is this another tech-enabled placebo?
Rhythmic Photic Stimulation (RPS) as a form of stroboscopic light presented through a smartphone flashlight to influence cortical activity is not a new idea; photic driving, the phenomenon in which flickering light elicits frequency-following responses in the brain, has been documented since the mid-20th century in EEG studies. Alpha waves (8–12 Hz) for instance, are strongly influenced by flickering light in that range. More intriguingly when photic stimulation is delivered at theta (4–8 Hz) or gamma (>30 Hz) frequencies it may alter cognition, attention, or induce hypnagogic phenomena.
While there is evidence to show that rhythmic visual and auditory stimuli can amplify specific oscillatory bands – with measurable changes on EEG – such entrainment tends to be local, transient, and highly dependent on attentional state and individual susceptibility. Lumenate explicitly markets itself as offering “psychedelic-like states” without substances. While this is provocative, there is some scientific precedent. Research on stroboscopic-induced visual hallucinations (e.g. the Dreamachine developed by Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville, or more recent studies at Sussex University) has demonstrated that flickering light, especially in the 8–12 Hz range, can reliably elicit complex geometric patterns (entoptic phenomena), tunnel-like visuals, and even mild ego-dissolution in some individuals.
The 2019 study by Schwartzman et al. compared LSD and stroboscopic stimulation experiences using the Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) questionnaire, a standard psychometric tool. The findings indicated partial overlap, especially in visual dimensions, but lacked the emotional intensity and depth of insight reported under serotonergic psychedelics. Lumenate’s effects may mimic some perceptual features of psychedelic experiences, but likely not the full spectrum of neurochemical and cognitive alterations (e.g. 5-HT2A receptor agonism, cortical disintegration, increased entropy).
Lumenate’s white papers and public statements emphasise collaboration with neuroscientists, though peer-reviewed publications validating their specific protocols are not yet evident. The scientific rationale is consistent with established knowledge: Stroboscopic light can entrain neural rhythms; Such entrainment can affect subjective states; Certain frequencies correlate with meditative, relaxed, or visionary states. Existing caveats include: Subjectivity and Suggestibility (expectation, priming, and context make it difficult to isolate neurophysiological effects from psychological ones), Inter-individual Variability (susceptibility to stroboscopic experiences varies dramatically. What’s euphoric for one user might be inert or dysphoric for another), Dose-Response Ambiguity (“intensity” of Lumenate sessions is harder to calibrate and may lack reproducibility), and lack of controlled trials (to date there appear to be no randomised controlled trials comparing Lumenate’s effects against placebo flicker or static light, making efficacy claims scientifically tenuous for now).
From a psychophysical perspective, pulsed light exposure alters visual cortex activity and can evoke phosphenes, visual trails, and flicker-fusion phenomena, but the intensity and focal point of a smartphone flashlight are not optimised for even illumination across the visual field. This introduces a variable not typically accounted for in lab-based stroboscopic research. One of Lumenate’s selling points is emotional clarity and psychological insight. While such reports are common, they mirror findings from placebo-enhanced meditation, hypnosis, and breathwork – all of which rely heavily on setting, suggestion, and openness to experience.
Illuminating Liminal Logic
Lumenate might be best understood as a non-pharmacological phenomenological catalyst: it can shift your state enough to loosen habitual cognition, but whether this produces meaningful insight or mere novelty remains user-dependent. They represent an interesting intersection between psychotechnology and neurophenomenology, grounded in legitimate scientific principles but currently operating ahead of conclusive evidence.
For sceptical scientists, it is not so much a breakthrough as a stimulating hypothesis generator – a platform begging for proper experimentation. While the app may not rival the neuroplasticity or therapeutic potential of psychedelics, it offers a safe, scalable, and relatively accessible introduction to this idea of self-exploration. Its effects, like those of many mind-tech products, reside in the nebulous realm where psychology meets expectancy: a frontier as rich in possibility as it is in cognitive bias.
