A Wearable EEG System for Closed-Loop Neuromodulation of High-Frequency Sleep-Related Oscillations

TL;DR

This study develops a wearable EEG system that uses phase-locked auditory stimulation to modulate alpha oscillations, aiming to improve sleep initiation, especially in individuals with insomnia, demonstrating technical feasibility and preliminary efficacy.

Contribution

It introduces a novel wearable closed-loop neuromodulation system capable of real-time alpha oscillation tracking and phase-specific stimulation for sleep enhancement.

Findings

Auditory stimulation at specific alpha phases modulates oscillations.

The wearable device accurately measures sleep EEG micro- and macro-events.

Sleep onset latency was reduced in some insomnia subjects during stimulation.

Abstract

In healthy sleepers, cortical alpha oscillations are present during the transition from wakefulness to sleep, and dissipate at sleep onset. For individuals with insomnia, alpha power is elevated during the wake-sleep transition and can persist throughout the night. Neuromodulation techniques using phase-locked stimulation have been put forth as alternatives to drugs for improving slow-wave sleep quality. Due to technical limitations, this approach has not been tested on faster frequency alpha oscillations. Here we examine the feasibility of using an endpoint-corrected version of the Hilbert Transform (ecHT) algorithm implemented on-device to measure alpha phase and deliver phase-locked auditory stimulation to modulate alpha and promote sleep initiation. First, the ecHT algorithm is implemented on a tabletop electroencephalogram (EEG) device and used to measure the timing of the auditory evoked response and its delivery at precise phases of the alpha oscillation. Secondly, a pilot at-home study tests feasibility to use a wearable version of the neuromodulation device for real-time phase-locked stimulation in the alpha (8-12 Hz) frequency range. Auditory stimulation was delivered at the intended phases of alpha with high precision, and alpha oscillations were affected differently by stimuli delivered at opposing phases. Our wearable system was capable of measuring sleep micro- and macro-events present in the EEG that were appropriate for clinical sleep scoring. Sleep onset latencies were reduced for a subset of subjects displaying sleep onset insomnia symptoms in the stimulation condition. This study demonstrates the feasibility of closed-loop tracking and neuromodulation of alpha oscillations using a wearable EEG device. Preliminary results suggest that this approach could be used to accelerate sleep initiation in individuals with objective insomnia symptoms.