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Auditory Stimulation Effects on Sleep and Memory in Patients With Epilepsy

NCT ID: NCT04788628

Last Updated: 2025-11-13

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

24 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2021-01-21

Study Completion Date

2026-03-31

Brief Summary

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This study will investigate the role of coordinated brain rhythms during sleep in memory consolidation and determine whether playing precisely timed brief bursts of noise can enhance these rhythms and improve memory in epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes.

Detailed Description

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The investigators will test the hypotheses that coordinated brain rhythms during nonrapid eye movement sleep are associated with memory consolidation and can be enhanced with auditory stimulation (playing precisely timed brief bursts of quiet noise) to improve memory. The investigators will measure differences in sleep and memory performance in epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes and continuous full scalp EEG monitoring under three overnight sleep conditions: a baseline night; a memory night during which sleep-dependent memory consolidation is assessed with the finger tapping motor sequence task (MST) with training prior to sleep and testing the next morning; and a stimulation night during which participants train on the MST, have precisely timed auditory stimulation during the sleep that follows, and are tested on the MST in the morning.

Conditions

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Epilepsy

Keywords

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Sleep Memory Auditory stimulation Spindles Intracranial monitoring Hippocampal ripples Slow oscillations

Study Design

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Allocation Method

NA

Intervention Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Primary Study Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Epilepsy inpatients

Epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes and continuous scalp EEG monitoring

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Baseline

Intervention Type OTHER

Hippocampal and scalp EEG monitoring during overnight sleep

Motor procedural memory task

Intervention Type OTHER

Training on the finger tapping MST prior to monitored overnight sleep with MST testing the following morning

Motor procedural memory task plus auditory stimulation

Intervention Type OTHER

Training on the finger tapping MST prior to monitored overnight sleep that includes auditory stimulation, with MST testing the following morning

Interventions

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Baseline

Hippocampal and scalp EEG monitoring during overnight sleep

Intervention Type OTHER

Motor procedural memory task

Training on the finger tapping MST prior to monitored overnight sleep with MST testing the following morning

Intervention Type OTHER

Motor procedural memory task plus auditory stimulation

Training on the finger tapping MST prior to monitored overnight sleep that includes auditory stimulation, with MST testing the following morning

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Inpatients with epilepsy
* Aged 12-65
* Undergoing clinically indicated continuous scalp and intracranial EEG monitoring with implanted hippocampal electrodes
* Fluent in English
* Able to give informed consent/assent (for minors aged 12-17 or adults with an appointed guardian)

Exclusion Criteria

* Intellectual disability impairing ability to perform task
* Motor problems that preclude finger tapping task
* Previous surgery anticipated to disrupt coordination of sleep oscillations in the circuitry of interest
Minimum Eligible Age

12 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

65 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Massachusetts General Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Dara S. Manoach, PhD

Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Dara Manoach, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Professor

Locations

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Massachusetts General Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

Other Identifiers

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2020P003959

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id