Sleep/Wake State Assessment with Non-invasive Earbuds

Feasibility of Detecting Within Subject Differences in Sleepiness with NextSense Earbud Electroencephalography Devices

This study is a within subject's assessment of whether a novel wearable technology, NextSense electroencephalography earbuds (EEGBuds), is able to detect differences in onset to sleep from wake versus in-laboratory, gold-standard electroencephalography (EEG) utilized as part of a standard four trial Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) at medicated baseline versus free of prescribed medications for promoting wake (random order).

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Hypersomnolence
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Ellcie Healthy eyeglasses; Other: Drug Holiday; Device: NextSense EEG-enabled earbuds

Detailed Description

Detection of "sleepiness" has for more than four decades relied upon methods that acquire the electroencephalogram (EEG) from multiple surface electrodes applied to the scalp and hardware that amplifies and stores information on a central processing unit (CPU). There are substantial limitations to this methodology beyond the fact that it is time, labor, and cost intensive. Such procedures restrict a subject's freedom of movement and necessitate that patients are monitored by trained staff in an accredited laboratory which levies substantial time and financial burdens upon patients and families. Finally, the test-re-test reliability and utility of testing paradigms reliant solely on an EEG 'signature' to detect statistically meaningful - let alone clinically meaningful - changes is dubious, and has come under increased scrutiny.

This study will assess whether novel wearable technology (NextSense EEGBuds and/or Ellcie Healthy Glasses) are able to detect differences in onset to sleep in patients diagnosed as having one of the central disorders of hypersomnolence (e.g., narcolepsy type 1 or type 2, or idiopathic hypersomnia) while using their prescribed wake promoting medication(s) versus while they are not medicated, and how it's sensitivity compares to differences as detected by the standard MWT. The two study visits will occur within 16 days of one another.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 8
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Georgia
    • Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30329
      • Emory Sleep Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 60 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults ages 18-60 years of age previously diagnosed with narcolepsy type I (NT1), narcolepsy type 2 (NT2), or idiopathic hypersomnia (IH).
• Requiring daily wake promoting medication(s) continuously for 3 months for diagnosed NT1, NT2 or IH with symptomatic improvement on treatment documented by standard subjective or objective tools.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Presence of a diagnosed or suspected co-morbid sleep-related breathing disorder, parasomnia, or other sleep-related movement disorder.
• Unstable psychiatric disorder (e.g., acute psychosis, acute suicidal ideation or major depressive episode, active substance abuse/dependence).
• History of malignancy (active or in remission for < 2 years) or active infectious disease at time of screening.
• Inability to safely tolerate wearing earbuds due to recent injury, skin breakdown, or infection.
• Uncorrected near visual acuity no worse than 20/50.
• Any other condition which may affect the outcome of this study or safety of the participant as determined by the principal investigator.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Device Feasibility
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Prescribed medication followed by drug holiday; Participants will complete the study assessments on a day when they take their prescribed medication(s) to promote wakefulness and then will repeat the study assessments on a day when they do not take the medication.	Device: Ellcie Healthy eyeglasses; Ellcie Healthy glasses frames are embedded with multi-modal sensors for measuring eye movements, head movement, and ECG.; Other: Drug Holiday; Participants will not take their prescribed wakefulness promoting medication(s) for one day to complete the study assessments. Medications typically used to promote wakefulness include amphetamine salts (Adderall), armodafinil (Nuvigil), clarithromycin (Biaxin), flumazenil, methylphenidate (Ritalin), and modafinil (Provigil).; Device: NextSense EEG-enabled earbuds; Each NextSense EEGBud device comes with a universal-fit and/or custom-fit earmold with biometric sensors to detect the EEG, motion (via tri-axial accelerometers), and heart rate. A unique custom mold is created employing a 3D printer to capture the geometry of a patients' ear and external auditory canal with a ring laser scanner to an accuracy of within 0.1 mm. This design process allows for a custom fit, and therefore both comfort and complete, consistent contact with the inner surface of the ear canal, providing high quality signal capture of brain activity, and head and eye movements. In addition to the custom fit earmold, universal fit earmolds are available as well. The universal fit earmolds were designed also to allow for comfort and consistent contact with the inner surface of the ear canal to provide high quality signal capture of brain activity, and head and eye movements.; Other Names: EEGBud
Experimental: Drug holiday followed by prescribed medication; Participants will complete the study assessments on a day when they do not take their prescribed medication(s) to promote wakefulness and then will repeat the study assessments on a day when they take their medication as prescribed.	Device: Ellcie Healthy eyeglasses; Ellcie Healthy glasses frames are embedded with multi-modal sensors for measuring eye movements, head movement, and ECG.; Other: Drug Holiday; Participants will not take their prescribed wakefulness promoting medication(s) for one day to complete the study assessments. Medications typically used to promote wakefulness include amphetamine salts (Adderall), armodafinil (Nuvigil), clarithromycin (Biaxin), flumazenil, methylphenidate (Ritalin), and modafinil (Provigil).; Device: NextSense EEG-enabled earbuds; Each NextSense EEGBud device comes with a universal-fit and/or custom-fit earmold with biometric sensors to detect the EEG, motion (via tri-axial accelerometers), and heart rate. A unique custom mold is created employing a 3D printer to capture the geometry of a patients' ear and external auditory canal with a ring laser scanner to an accuracy of within 0.1 mm. This design process allows for a custom fit, and therefore both comfort and complete, consistent contact with the inner surface of the ear canal, providing high quality signal capture of brain activity, and head and eye movements. In addition to the custom fit earmold, universal fit earmolds are available as well. The universal fit earmolds were designed also to allow for comfort and consistent contact with the inner surface of the ear canal to provide high quality signal capture of brain activity, and head and eye movements.; Other Names: EEGBud

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in sleep onset latency	Sleep onset latency is the time in minutes it takes to transition from wakefulness to sleep. Within-individual change in the mean onset to sleep will be assessed from the two MWT sessions performed as detected by NextSense EEGBuds.	Study visits 1 and 2 (up to 16 days)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Intraclass correlation between measurement methods	The coefficient of intraclass correlation (ICC) between the individual sleep onset latencies as derived by NextSense EEGBuds vs. those revealed by gold standard EEG and conventional scoring. Higher correlation values (typically 0.75 to 1.00) indicate greater agreement between the measurements.	Up to 16 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Emory University
• Collaborators: NextSense, Inc.
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: David Rye, MD, PhD, Emory University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 13, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 27, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): October 27, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 23, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 23, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): October 4, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 7, 2025
• Last Verified: January 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Narcolepsy type 1; Narcolepsy type 2; Idiopathic hypersomnia
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Sleep Wake Disorders; Sleep Disorders, Intrinsic; Dyssomnias; Disorders of Excessive Somnolence
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY00002651

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: Yes
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No