Acoustic stimulation as a promising technique to enhance slow-wave sleep in Alzheimer’s disease: results of a pilot study
Open accessAbstract
Study objectives Sleep disturbances are common in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and a reduction in slow-wave activity is the most striking underlying change. Acoustic stimulation has emerged as a promising approach to enhance slow-wave activity in healthy adults and people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment. In this phase 1 study we investigated, for the first time, the feasibility of acoustic stimulation in AD and piloted the effect on slow-wave sleep (SWS).Methods Eleven adults with mild to moderate AD first wore the DREEM 2 headband for 2 nights to establish a baseline registration. Using machine learning, the DREEM 2 headband automatically scores sleep stages in real time. Subsequently, the participants wore the headband for 14 consecutive "stimulation nights" at home. During these nights, the device applied phase-locked acoustic stimulation of 40-dB pink noise delivered over 2 bone-conductance transducers targeted to the up-phase of the delta wave or SHAM, if it detected SWS in sufficiently high-quality data.Results Results of the DREEM 2 headband algorithm show a significant average increase in SWS (minutes) [t(3.17) = 33.57, P = .019] between the beginning and end of the intervention, almost twice as much time was spent in SWS. Consensus scoring of electroencephalography data confirmed this trend of more time spent in SWS [t(2.4) = 26.07, P = .053].Conclusions Our phase 1 study provided the first evidence that targeted acoustic stimuli is feasible and could increase SWS in AD significantly. Future studies should further test and optimize the effect of stimulation on SWS in AD in a large randomized controlled trial.Citation Van den Bulcke L, Peeters A-M, Heremans E, et al. Acoustic stimulation as a promising technique to enhance slow-wave sleep in Alzheimer's disease: results of a pilot study. J Clin Sleep Med. 2023;19(12):2107-2112.
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- Authors
- Van den Bulcke, L., Peeters, A.-M., Heremans, E., Davidoff, H., Borzée, P., De Vos, M., Emsell, L., Van den Stock, J., De Roo, M., Tournoy, J., Buyse, B., Vandenbulcke, M., Van Audenhove, C., Testelmans, D., & Van Den Bossche, M.
- Affiliations
- Geriatric Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- KU Leuven (BE)
- IMEC (BE)
- Universitair Ziekenhuis Leuven (BE)
- Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Department of Public Health and Primary Care, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
- Published
- 2023-12
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2107-2112
- ISSN
- 1550-9389 (ISSN-L)
- 1550-9397
- PMC
- PMC10692948
- OpenAlex
- W4385969369
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 2
- FWCI
- 5.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lirias (KU Leuven) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Clinical Trial Center, China Medical University Hospital
- KU Leuven
- Koning Boudewijnstichting (2021-J1990130-222081)
- Universitaire Ziekenhuizen Leuven, KU Leuven
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Keywords
- Alzheimer's disease, slow-wave sleep, auditory stimulation, 1/f noise, sleep stage classification, delta oscillations, sleep disorders, non-invasive brain stimulation, feasibility
- MeSH terms
- Sleep, Slow-Wave, Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Alzheimer Disease, Electroencephalography, Humans, Pilot Projects, Sleep
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