Combined Auditory and Tragal Stimulation Headphone Effectively Increases Vagal Tone and Improves Short-Term Cognition
Journal Title: Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) - Year 2019, Vol 13, Issue 1
Abstract
The autonomic nervous system is responsible for many psychological and physiological phenomena. Music is known to influence the autonomic nervous system and provide many beneficial effects in both the body and the mind. The vagus nerve has also been stimulated to invoke similar beneficial effects. Since this procedure is invasive, the tragus nerve, which is the only input to the vagus, is ideal for autonomic modulation. While this effect has been demonstrated alone, the combination of music and tragal stimulation, two very similar interventions, has not been studied yet. Hypothesis: A modified headphone with combined stimulatory electrodes on the tragus will safely and effectively stimulate the vagus nerve while listening to music. Such combined stimulation will improve autonomic tone, cognition, and mood. Methods: Autonomic functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, heart rate variability, and electrodermal activity as well as cognition and emotions were recorded during various interventions. These interventions included music (major and minor chords), tragal simulation alone, and the combination of both. Results: All participants completed the experiment without any adverse effects. There was a statistically significant decrease in heart rate (p=0.038) and increase in heart rate variability (p=0.001) in response to tragal stimulation. The heart rate variability increase was more pronounced in females indicating previously unreported phenomena. Cognition improved significantly (p=0.008) with tragal stimulation and music combined. Conclusion: A novel integrated headphone stimulatory device can be used safely and effectively to improve and modulate autonomic tone and cognition while enjoying a musical experience.One of the few major afferent routes to the central nervous system (CNS) is the vagus nerve [1]. While there are many different outputs, including motor output, from the CNS, afferent nerves tend to be processed at the brainstem or spinal cord level. An exception is the vagus nerve, and as a result of this unique vantage point to the CNS and through it to various parts of the body, stimulation and modulation of the vagus nerve afferents have become an area of burgeoning research with multiple implications for health and disease [2]. The vagus nerve has been implicated predominantly for cardiovascular health, including the prevention of sudden death[3]. Vagal stimulation not only decreases heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) but also importantly creates a more positive healthy profile for heart rate variability (HRV). Indeed, vagal stimulation has been shown to acutely treat arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation [4,5]. A potential major effect is reducing the chance of sudden death through the tragal effects on HRV [6]. By virtue of the afferent input to the CNS, vagal stimulation has also produced benefits in depression, cognition, and certain degenerative disorders [7,8]. However, the promise of such treatments to help patients with various disorders has fallen short of expectations. The reasons for this are varied but may include a lack of understanding of the optimal stimulatory sequences for each disease.
Authors and Affiliations
Hemanth O Asirvatham, Jennifer A Mears BS, Samuel J Asirvatham
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP585854
- DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2019.13.002351
- Views 143
- Downloads 0
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