Auditory Stimulation Effects on Sleep and Memory in Patients With Epilepsy

Not Applicable

Active, not recruiting

• Conditions: Epilepsy
• Interventions: Other: Baseline; Other: Motor procedural memory task; Other: Motor procedural memory task plus auditory stimulation

• Registration Number: NCT04788628
• Lead Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital

Brief Summary

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

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.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2021-01-21
• Study First Submitted: 2021-02-25
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-03-08
• Study First Posted: 2021-03-09
• Status Verified: 2025-05
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-05-13
• Last Update Posted: 2025-05-14
• Primary Completion: 2026-03-31
• Study Completion: 2026-03-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 24

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

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Epilepsy inpatients	Motor procedural memory task plus auditory stimulation	Epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes and continuous scalp EEG monitoring
Epilepsy inpatients	Motor procedural memory task	Epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes and continuous scalp EEG monitoring
Epilepsy inpatients	Baseline	Epilepsy inpatients with implanted hippocampal electrodes and continuous scalp EEG monitoring

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Changes in slow oscillation-spindle-hippocampal ripple coupling	Three nights of sleep within three weeks	Changes in the coupling of slow oscillations with spindles and hippocampal ripples during non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep as measured by scalp and intracranial EEG between baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Changes in hippocampal ripples	Three nights of sleep within three weeks	Changes in hippocampal ripples during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep as measured by intracranial EEG between baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights
Changes in slow oscillations	Three nights of sleep within three weeks	Changes in slow oscillations during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep as measured by EEG between the baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights
Changes in sleep-dependent consolidation of motor procedural memory	Three nights of sleep within three weeks	Changes in sleep-dependent improvement of motor procedural memory performance on the finger tapping motor sequence task (MST) between baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights. Different sequences are employed for the memory and auditory stimulation nights in a counter-balanced order.
Changes in sleep spindles	Three nights of sleep within three weeks	Changes in sleep spindles during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep as measured by EEG between baseline, memory, and auditory stimulation nights

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Massachusetts General Hospital; 🇺🇸 Boston, Massachusetts, United States