Poster 20: Music, Meditation, and Huntington's Disease

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of ambient music and binaural beat meditation on Huntington's disease (HD) patients. Of particular interest in this study are the effects on chorea. It is known that Huntington's chorea is reduced or even nonexistent during sleep. This study takes advantage of this as well as the often relaxing and sleep-inducing effects of both ambient music and binaural beat meditation. In binaural beat meditation, a low frequency beat is perceived when two tones of slightly different frequencies are played together through headphones, one tone in each ear. It has been shown that this meditation can be used to “entrain” the brain to theta and delta brainwave states, states associated with light and deep sleep, respectively. With practice, those who meditate can train themselves to reach these levels faster, with less effort, even while retaining consciousness. Although it may be less documented, it is also known that certain music and sounds can be found to be relaxing for people and may also lead to sleep-like states. The stimulus for this experiment consisted of a continuous, 40-minute listening session with an ambient music section followed by binaural beat meditation in an attempt to create a relaxing, near-sleep or sleeping state in the participants. We predict that since chorea tends to go away during sleep, inducing some level of sleep using these non-invasive methods could lead to a decrease in observed chorea. Chorea was monitored and quantified throughout the experiment using a CATSYS accelerometer, which took specific measurements of movement intensity and any resonant frequencies. The UHDRS motor scale was used throughout the experiment to note any changes in observable chorea. The POMS questionnaire was given before and after the session to assess any changes in depression or anxiety.