Effects of Auditory Brain Stimulation by Pink Noise on Memory Capacities in Alzheimer's Disease: Proof of Concept Study
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting almost 6% of the world's population over the age of 65. This disease, in its most typical sporadic form, is characterized by an episodic memory impairment linked to a deficit in consolidation. Many studies indicate that sleep promotes this consolidation stage during the deep slow sleep stage by facilitating the transfer of information between the hippocampus and the neocortex. A method of acoustic brain stimulation at night by pink noises has been recently developed and has shown its effectiveness in strengthening memory consolidation in healthy volunteers. Actually, there is no study observing the effect of this new stimulation method on populations with neurodegenerative pathologies, in particular in AD for which this technique could potentially become a therapeutic option. The hypothesis is that of a strengthening of the memory consolidation capacities in subjects with AD as has been shown in healthy subjects.
• Age\> 50 years at the inclusion
• Patient with regular sleep patterns
• Patient having given written consent
• Patient affiliated to a social security regimen
• Patient with a beginning Alzheimer's disease defined according to the criteria of the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association or carriers of a prodromal Alzheimer's disease defined according to the criteria of the International Working Group IWG-2; the diagnosis must be supported by brain imaging and a blood test carried out in routine care
• MMSE score ≥ 24
• Absence of neurodegenerative pathologies
• Matched in age (+/- 5 years) and in sex with a patient