Chronic neuropathic pain: EEG data in eyes open and eyes closed with painDETECT and brief pain inventory reports.

Thirty-six chronic neuropathic pain patients (8 men and 28 women) of Mexican nationality with a mean age of 44±13.98 were recruited for EEG signal recording in eyes open and eyes closed resting state condition. Each condition was recorded for 5 min, with a total recording session time of 10 min. An ID number was given to each patient after signing up for the study, with which they answered the painDETECT questionnaire as a screening process for neuropathic pain alongside their clinical history. The day of the recording, the patients answered the Brief Pain Inventory, as an evaluation questionnaire for the interference of the pain with their daily life. Twenty-two EEG channels positioned in accordance with the 10/20 international system were registered with Smarting mBrain device. EEG signals were sampled at 250 Hz with a bandwidth between 0.1 and 100 Hz. The article provides two types of data: (1) raw EEG data in resting state and (2) the report of patients for two validated pain questionnaires. The data described in this article can be used for classifier algorithms considering stratifying chronic neuropathic pain patients with EEG data alongside their pain scores. In sum, this data is of extreme relevance for the pain field, where researchers have been seeking to integrate the pain experience with objective physiological data, such as the EEG.

Comparative analysis of acoustic therapies for tinnitus treatment based on auditory event-related potentials.

Introduction: So far, Auditory Event-Related Potential (AERP) features have been used to characterize neural activity of patients with tinnitus. However, these EEG patterns could be used to evaluate tinnitus evolution as well. The aim of the present study is to propose a methodology based on AERPs to evaluate the effectiveness of four acoustic therapies for tinnitus treatment. Methods: The acoustic therapies were: (1) Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT), (2) Auditory Discrimination Therapy (ADT), (3) Therapy for Enriched Acoustic Environment (TEAE), and (4) Binaural Beats Therapy (BBT). In addition, relaxing music was included as a placebo for both: tinnitus sufferers and healthy individuals. To meet this aim, 103 participants were recruited, 53% were females and 47% were males. All the participants were treated for 8 weeks with one of these five sounds, which were moreover tuned in accordance with the acoustic features of their tinnitus (if applied) and hearing loss. They were electroencephalographically monitored before and after their acoustic therapy, and wherefrom AERPs were estimated. The sound effect of acoustic therapies was evaluated by examining the area under the curve of those AERPs. Two parameters were obtained: (1) amplitude and (2) topographical distribution. Results: The findings of the investigation showed that after an 8-week treatment, TRT and ADT, respectively achieved significant neurophysiological changes over somatosensory and occipital regions. On one hand, TRT increased the tinnitus perception. On the other hand, ADT redirected the tinnitus attention, what in turn diminished the tinnitus perception. Tinnitus handicapped inventory outcomes verified these neurophysiological findings, revealing that 31% of patients in each group reported that TRT increased tinnitus perception, but ADT diminished it. Discussion: Tinnitus has been identified as a multifactorial condition highly associated with hearing loss, age, sex, marital status, education, and even, employment. However, no conclusive evidence has been found yet. In this study, a significant (but low) correlation was found between tinnitus intensity and right ear hearing loss, left ear hearing loss, heart rate, area under the curve of AERPs, and acoustic therapy. This study raises the possibility to assign acoustic therapies by neurophysiological response of patient.

Mexican validation of the International Affective Digitized Sounds second edition (IADS-2) and additional sounds.

Affective stimuli have been extensively used in emotion research for a better understanding of emotion regulation. Sound ratings, specifically non-verbal sounds, are biased by demographic indicators such as sex and nationality. Therefore, it is crucial to characterize sounds prior to their use in emotion research. This study aims to validate the IADS-2 database and additional sounds in a sample from the Mexican population. Three hundred twenty-nine participants born and raised in Mexico remotely listened to 174 sounds in monophonic format. They rated sounds according to the valence-arousal-dominance model using the Self-Assessment Manikin test. Results positively correlated to those of previous studies. Sex differences were observed only in dominance between female and male groups, contrary to the results from Portuguese, American and Japanese validations. Geographic region analysis demonstrated differences in arousal, indicating the need for additional research on occident and south regions. Furthermore, when conducting affective research, headphones and audio quality should be considered, primarily to reduce variability due to audio-related aspects, and to avoid changes in emotional experience. Finally, this study supports the feasibility of remote affective sound experiments over the internet as reported in previous research.

Binaural sound therapy for tinnitus treatment: A psychometric and neurophysiological evaluation.

INTRODUCTION: Tinnitus is an annoying buzz that manifests itself in many ways. In addition, it can provoke anxiety, stress, depression, and fatigue. The acoustic therapies have become the most commonly applied treatment for tinnitus, either self-administered or clinically prescribed. Binaural Sound Therapy (BST) and Music Therapy (MT) aim to reverse the neuroplasticity phenomenon related to tinnitus by adequately stimulating the auditory path-way. The goal of this research is to evaluate the feasibility of applying BST for tinnitus treatment by comparing its effect with MT effect. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 34 patients with tinnitus from 29 to 60 years were informed about the experimental procedure and consented their participation. Patients were divided into two groups: 1) MT and 2) BST. They applied their sound-based treatment for one hour every day along eight weeks. Each treatment was adjusted to Hearing Loss (HL) and tinnitus characteristics of each participant. To record EEG data, a bio-signal amplifier with sixteen EEG channels was used. The system recorded data at a sampling frequency of 256 Hz within a bandwidth between 0.1 and 100 Hz. RESULTS: The questionnaire-monitoring reported that MT increased tinnitus perception in 30% of the patients, and increased anxiety and stress in 8% of them. Regarding EEG-monitoring, major neural synchronicity over the frontal lobe was found after the treatment. In the case of BST reduced stress in 23% of patients. Additionally, BST reduced tinnitus perception similar to MT (15% of patients). With respect to EEG-monitoring, slightly major neural synchronicity over the right frontal lobe was found after the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: MT should be applied with caution since it could be worsening the tinnitus sufferer condition. On the other hand, BST is recommended for tinnitus sufferers who have side effects concerning stress but no anxiety.

Different Headphone Models Modulate Differently Alpha and Theta Brain Oscillations When Listening to the Same Sound.

The frequency content of a sound changes the perception of acoustic features, but can headphones also change auditory information interpretation? Audio devices such as headphones are factors that have not been taken into consideration at studying sound perception, specifically in acoustic therapies. In particular, alternative treatments based on psychoacoustic effects could be more effective if the frequency response of headphones is found as a determining factor.This investigation, therefore, aims to study the brain response (in terms of electroencephalographic activity) produced by listening to pink noise in three different headphone models. Furthermore, not only the immediate response is studied, but the sound habituation (after daily exposure to pink noise for 30 days) is also investigated. The investigation findings reveal that headphones with a flatter frequency response provide more accurate acoustic information to the brain, what in turn, demands a larger number and a wider variety of mental resources, even after a habituation process.Clinical Relevance-This investigation establishes that audio devices are a determining factor to achieve specific psychoacoustic effects since they change the auditory information decoding at a cortical level.

Identification of Neuropathic Pain Severity based on Linear and Non-Linear EEG Features.

The lack of an integral characterization of chronic neuropathic pain (NP) has led to pharmacotherapy mismanagement and has hindered advances in clinical trials. In this study, we attempted to identify chronic NP by fusing psychometric (based on the Brief Inventory of Pain - BIP), and both linear and non-linear electroencephalographic (EEG) features. For this purpose, 35 chronic NP patients were recruited voluntarily. All the volunteers answered the BIP; and additionally, 22 EEG channels positioned in accordance with the 10/20 international system were registered for 10 minutes at resting state: 5 minutes with eyes open and 5 minutes with eyes closed. EEG Signals were sampled at 250 Hz within a bandwidth between 0.1 and 100 Hz. As linear features, absolute band power was obtained per clinical frequency band: delta (0.1~4 Hz), theta (4~8 Hz), alpha (8~12 Hz), beta (12~30 Hz) and gamma (30~100 Hz); considering five regions: prefrontal, frontal, central, parietal and occipital. As non-linear features, approximate entropy was calculated per channel and per clinical frequency band with addition of the broadband (0.1~100 Hz). Resulting feature vectors were grouped in line with the BIP outcome. Three groups were considered: low, moderate, and high pain. Finally, BIP-EEG patterns were classified in those three classes, achieving 96% accuracy. This result improves a previous work of a SVM classifier that used exclusively linear EEG features and showed an accuracy between 87% and 90% per class to predict central NP after spinal cord injury.

Data on electroencephalographic activity while exposed to pink noise modified by the frequency responses of three headphone models.

The data described in this article refers to the experimental paradigm where subjects listened to the same pink noise modified by the frequency responses of three headphone models while their brain responses were recorded by means of electroencephalography. Six types of data are described: 1) pink noise sounds with a length of 2.73 s used for the experimental paradigm; 2) electrophysiological recordings, 29 in the first session and 25 in the last session recorded for five minutes; text files with 3) electrode positions and 4) information to identify physiological data and headphone group; 5) a table with technical specifications of the physical headphone model used in the experiment; and 6) a figure summarizing the experimental design. The information in this work can be used to compare the electrical activity of the brain in acoustic treatments where headphones are a key element to meet the therapeutic effect.

Implementation of a Virtual Reality rendered in Portable Devices for Strabismus Treatment based on Conventional Visual Therapy.

In order to propose alternative treatments for strabismus, conventional visual therapies implemented in VR, which could be rendered in portable devices for pediatric strabismus treatment is proposed in this paper. In comparison with other virtual environments for visual correction proposes, the proposed system is based on conventional visual therapies for amblyopia and strabismus treatment. Three fundamental visual therapeutic exercises were considered in the present proposal: (1) Brock cord, (2) approach technique, and (3) convergence and divergence. The first exercise, Brock Cord, has the purpose of improving the binocular fixation for exotropia and esotropia. The second exercise pursues to normalize the Cerebral Perfusion Pressure by an approach technique. The third exercise known as fusion of eccentric circles, aims vision training by converging and diverging objects at specific distances. Before a clinical application, it was paramount important to guarantee system simplicity and versatility for both clinicians and infant patients. Therefore, the user experience evaluation of a sample of 45 students between 17 and 28 years old was undertaken. The system proposed in this paper achieved a pragmatic quality above average (1.73), a parameter that reflects simplicity and versatility. In addition, the present VR system displayed attractiveness (2.03) and hedonic (1.90) qualities above average. Then, it is expected that end-users will follow the visual exercise program.