Sleep-based Detection and Intervention System

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This invention describes a system designed to help treat major depressive disorder (MDD) by disrupting a specific deep sleep stage known as slow wave sleep (SWS) via targeted acoustic stimulation. The system uses a cap with multiple EEG electrodes to monitor brain activity, a processing unit with a sophisticated algorithm to detect when the patient enters SWS, and earphones to deliver controlled noise stimuli that are intended to suppress SWS. The approach is based on recent findings that reducing SWS can have rapid antidepressant effects, and the system is designed to do this in a less stressful and more precise way than traditional sleep deprivation therapies.

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• Treatment of individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) who do not respond to standard therapies.
• Potential adjunct therapy to enhance or accelerate antidepressant effects in clinical psychiatry.
• Sleep research environments studying SWS modulation in humans.
• Development of wearable home-based devices for self-administered SWS suppression under medical supervision.
• Potential treatment or research into other neurological conditions associated with SWS, such as epilepsy or certain sleep disorders.

BenefitsContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Provides an automated, targeted, and less stressful alternative to total sleep deprivation for treating depression.
• Offers high accuracy in detecting slow wave sleep using a robust, template-based EEG algorithm, adjustable for individual differences.
• Reduces the need for prolonged wakefulness, which can be burdensome and unhealthy for patients.
• Closed-loop feedback and artifact detection increase both safety and specificity of the intervention.
• The acoustic stimulation protocol (randomized timing, duration, and volume) makes the intervention more effective and less predictable for the brain, enhancing SWS suppression.
• Potential adaptability for use in other disorders involving abnormal brain rhythms during sleep.

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Patent Abstract

A sleep-based detection and intervention system (1) for the treatment of major depressive disorder comprises an electroencephalography cap (5) with multiple electrodes (6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f, 6g, 6h) configured for recording an electroencephalogram of a patient's brain, an earphone device (4) configured for one ear or the ears of the patient (7) and a processing unit (2) being connected to the electroencephalography cap (5) and to the earphone device (4). The processing unit (2) includes a template-based algorithm (33) configured for detecting slow wave sleep of the patient (7) based on the electroencephalogram recorded by the multiple electrodes (6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f, 6g, 6h) of the electroencephalography cap (5), and an acoustic intervention protocol (8) configured for providing a noise stimulation to the patient (7) via the earphone device (4) when slow wave sleep is detected by the template-based algorithm (33).