Soundly supporting Alzheimer’s

27 Feb 2025

Alex Khalil of UCC is lead researcher with the SoundMind project, a groundbreaking international research initiative exploring the use of augmented audio reality (AAR) to continuously deliver sounds that have shown potential to treat Alzheimer’s Disease.

Funded by a grant from the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute, SoundMind is a research collaboration between UCC and King’s College London, examining practical ways to deliver neuromodulation through audio stimuli for the treatment of Alzheimer’s.

Neuromodulation refers to the way external stimuli, in this case sounds, can alter the way the brain works: music can, for instance, improve the walking gait of those suffering with Parkinson’s disease. As Khalil explains, ‘The basic idea is that the sounds we hear change the way our brain operates and by digitally manipulating the auditory landscape, we can provide continuous stimulation for long periods without disrupting one’s daily life. This holds significant potential for the treatment of diseases like Alzheimer’s’.

A unique aspect of SoundMind is that it leverages the way the brain responds to music to enhance neuromodulation in a variable and noisy environment

Other forms of aural stimulation tend to use one frequency, which is loud and unnatural, whereas the SoundMind method is less intrusive. Dr Khalil embeds entraining signals in different frequency bands into the environment of a research participant, since ‘the brain locks on to a signal better when there’s some background noise’. A unique aspect about the method is that it leverages the way the brain responds to music in order to enhance neuromodulation in a variable and noisy environment. So far, the research has revealed that neuromodulation has an impact on the brain in both healthy and clinical populations: three papers are being prepared for publication. The next stage will be a clinical trial to see whether neuromodulation might have a positive benefit on people with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.