Micromanaging Human Sleep Physiology to Treat Sleep Apnea and Other Disorders

July 14, 2026 updated by: Ken Paller, Northwestern University

This study will examine whether a combination of breathing training during wake and targeted reactivation of the training during sleep can induce breathing changes during sleep and subsequent cognitive benefits during wake.

Participants with obstructive sleep apnea (who have not yet been treated for sleep apnea) will be recruited. Participants will engage in breath training for one week in their own homes and to record their sleep at home using commercially available mobile devices and subsequently have their sleep monitored for one night of polysomnography recordings plus targeted reactivation in a laboratory setting.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

18

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 Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
        • Recruiting
        • Northwestern University
        • Contact:

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

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Right-handed, English-speaking adults, 18-60 years old who report normal hearing during sleep
  2. Participants with suspected obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) (including those who have been diagnosed by a physician and those whose self-reported symptoms of OSA on the STOP-BANG questionnaire classify them as being "individuals with intermediate to high risk".
  3. No report of any other sleep disorder besides OSA.
  4. No report of any neurological or cardiometabolic diseases or disorders.
  5. Not currently under active treatment for sleep apnea.
  6. BMI ≤ 40.

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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: All participants
Behavioral: Wake training + TMR

In this within-participant design, all participants will undergo the same intervention of waking training and TMR.

Waking training - waking training will associate an auditory cue with a specific learned behavioral response (a tongue protrusion and inhalation) during daily sessions for approximately one week, with home sleep monitoring.

TMR - Targeted memory reactivation (TMR) refers to the process of playing learning-associated audio cues quietly during sleep in order to reactivate memories associated with the cue. After completion of waking training, TMR occurs in a laboratory setting, with PSG recording, during a single night.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI)
Time Frame: Day 1
AHI indexes the severity of OSA on the night of the study.
Day 1
Respiratory event duration
Time Frame: Day 1
The duration of a hypopnea or apnea on the night of the study.
Day 1

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Northwestern University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ken A Paller, PhD, Northwestern University

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)

April 3, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

April 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

April 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 5, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 7, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 15, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 14, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • FP00002577

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

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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