Auditory Stimulation Effect on Brain Oscillations and Sleep Dependent Learning

June 28, 2026 updated by: Catherine Chu, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital
The investigators are testing the impact of quiet sounds played during sleep on brain oscillations and memory.

Study Overview

Status

Withdrawn

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Participants will undergo two visits with a memory task and nap. During one of the visits, quiet sounds will be played timed with sleep oscillations. During the other visit, no sounds will be played. Brain oscillations and memory will be measured at each visit.

Study Type

Interventional

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States, 02129
        • Athinoula A. Martinos Center Biomedical Imaging

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria: Adult -

Exclusion Criteria: History of neurological disease, psychiatric disease, sleep apnea or sleep disorder.

-

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Auditory Stimulation
Quiet sounds are played during sleep
Other: Quiet Sounds
Quiet sounds are played during sleep
Sham Comparator: Sham Stimulation
Volume is set to zero.
Other: Sham Sounds
No sounds are played during sleep

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Sleep spindle rate
Time Frame: 90 minutes
Sleep spindles are prominent thalamocortical brain oscillations seen on EEG during sleep that have been mechanistically linked to sleep-dependent memory consolidation. The sleep spindle rate over the course of the nap will be assessed using an automated spindle detector applied to the collected EEG sleep data.
90 minutes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Memory consolidation
Time Frame: 90 minutes
The motor sequence task (MST), a validated probe of memory consolidation, will be used to measure sleep-dependent memory consolidation. Participants will trained on MST before the nap opportunity and tested on MST after the nap opportunity to reliably measure memory consolidation.
90 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Catherine Chu, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

November 13, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 30, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

June 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 25, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 13, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

November 14, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 30, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 28, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2024P002714

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Deidentified data will be shared upon request to the study PI

IPD Sharing Time Frame

within one year of study termination

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Academic investigators

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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