The Sound That Never Stops Rising
There’s a moment in Lesson 7 where your brain gets suspicious.
You’ve been climbing. The sound has been rising with you. Minutes pass. Still rising.
And then the thought: Wait. How is this still going up?
Welcome to the Shepard Tone.
The Infinite Staircase
Picture a barber’s pole. Red and white stripes, spinning endlessly upward. Except… they’re not actually going anywhere. They’re looping. Your eyes just can’t catch the seam.
The Shepard Tone does this to your ears. Multiple tones, stacked in octaves, carefully crossfading. As the highest fades out, a new low one fades in. Your brain locks onto the rise and misses the reset.
An endless climb. A sonic illusion.
Why It Matters
Your brain loves ceilings. It wants to know where the top is. “This is the peak. Can’t go higher.”
The Shepard Tone removes the ceiling.
When the sound has no limit, your nervous system gets permission to follow. No top rung. No endpoint. Just… up.
If the sound never has to stop rising, why should you?