Neurological Disorders

A Portable Sonified Neurofeedback Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder Patients-An Initial Evaluation

Abstract

Adrian Attard Trevisan, Paolo Cavallari and Frederick Attard

A novel sonified Neurofeedback management therapy for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is explored and tested. ASD is a condition in children which effects their social interaction, language and communication and behaviours. Literature suggests that people diagnosed with ASD tend to have higher levels of Delta (δ) waves and less levels of Alpha (α) and Beta (β) waves in their brain activity. This paper studies how the use of sonified Neurofeedback produced by a two channel EEG device headband and the Brain Music System (BMS), can successfully suppress the δ waves while at the same time promote α and β waves. The two channel EEG device headband records EEG activity and the BMS converts the EEG activity into sonified binaural signals feeding them back to the user. Results recorded showed a relevant δ wave suppression clearly indicating that children subjected to this study made significant progress in managing symptoms associated with ASD. This was also confirmed by feedback from the parents of the respective subjects.