Audio-visual stimulation for improving sleep quality

Abstract

Sleep has an important role in maintaining the organs’ function of the body. Sleep disruption would affect a human's health and life quality. Insomnia is a kind of sleep disorder that often occurs in society due to stress. Insomnia treatment is usually carried out by pharmacological therapy which has high side effects. This study aims to give an insomnia treatment solution by using an audio-visual stimulation (AVS) which is able to stimulate the brainwave to enter the relaxed state, as an early stage toward the sleep process. The study was conducted by designed a prototype that consists of a flashing-blue light pair with wavelength 463.92 nm as the visual stimulation, and binaural beats which continually decreased its frequency from 8 Hz to 1 Hz as the audio stimulation. The prototype performance was tested by collecting electroencephalogram (EEG) quantitatively and Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) qualitatively, which were obtained from two adult subjects. EEG analysis results showed that there was an increment of theta wave and decrement of beta wave in both subjects which indicated drowsy state. BRUMS results show that the subjects became relaxed when using the prototype. From the test conducted, it could be concluded that the prototype has the potential to improve the sleep quality to overcome insomnia.