This is the incredible discovery of Dr. Roneil Malkani, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Northwestern University. While doing research on Alzheimer's disease, he discovered that sleep quality can be linked to memory.
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The study
To demonstrate his hypothesis, Dr. Roneil Malkani decided stimulate patients with cognitive impairment at night with sound. He made people listen to sounds for one night, then nothing for another. Before and the day after these nights, patients responded to memory tests to determine if the sound stimulation had had an impact. The tests in question are simple: they consist of finding 44 words by associations of ideas.
Pink noise
The noise used to stimulate patients is called ‘pink noise,’ its pulsations are close to white noise but more severe.
The result
In the test the day after exposure to pink noise, patients with a 20% improvement in sleep were able to find 2 more words. A patient with a 40% increase was able to find 9 more words.
Dr. Roneil Malkani believes that pink noise stimulation could be a form of treatment for people with cognitive impairment. The study still requires research, it is necessary to test the stimulation on a larger panel over a longer duration to determine with certainty that the effects are well related and the duration of effectiveness of pink noise stimulation.
Take a look at the video above for more on the intriguing concept of pink noise...
