2023-06-10 08:01:30
“Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are diseases that develop over many years. They are usually only discovered with the onset of cognitive and memory-related problems, sleep disorders or locomotor disorders, for example. Diagnosis is usually so late that the only treatment option is to treat the symptoms. The aim here is to identify signs of the 2 diseases 10 to 15 years before the first symptoms appear and this opportunity might pave the way for better treatment options, says one of the lead authors, Professor Preben Kidmose, who heads the Aarhus University Atrial EEG Center.
The Danish team is developing and preparing to test:
a so-called auricular EEG device which comes in the form of a pair of in-ear headphones.
This measuring device, specially developed for home use, will be tested on groups of patients with and without Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. The objective is to validate that the technology can screen participants for these 2 brain diseases.
Ear-EEG is a gentle technology that measures the electrical activity of the brain and maps our sleep patterns. Research reveals that early signs of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease can indeed be identified from sleep patterns.
Sleep monitoring of the future? In practice, the small device is placed in the ear to measure electrical activity in the brain. The method measures extremely small voltage changes on the skin’s surface caused by electrical activity in brain neurons in a more comfortable and less intrusive way than traditional sleep measurements. The device also includes an oximeter to measure oxygen in the blood, a thermometer and a microphone to listen to breathing and heartbeat, much like a stethoscope.
This sophisticated auricular EEG has everything for sleep monitoring, especially at home. Its advantage would be to be able to follow patients in their daily life and monitor changes in sleep patterns and response to treatments.
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