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EUROSTARS-EUROSTARS

E! 115062 - Hypnos: game-changing EEG device for sleep improvement

Alternative title: E! 115062 - Hypnos: Banebrytende EEG-enhet for søvnforbedring

Awarded: NOK 6.0 mill.

Project Manager:

Project Number:

323459

Project Period:

2021 - 2024

Funding received from:

Organisation:

Partner countries:

It is 4 in the morning. You lie awake in bed and check the clock. This may be something you have experienced yourself, as it happens 1 out of 4 adults in Europe. When that sleep disturbance occurs repeatedly - for at least 3 times a week and for over 3 months - it is defined as chronic insomnia. Over time, chronic insomnia takes a toll on most aspects of one's life from cognition (the ability to focus and remember things) to physical and emotional health. Drowzee, Bitbrain, and Akershus University Hospital have joined forces to deliver a novel treatment for chronic insomnia, based on the latest advancements in neurotechnology. This new treatment solution makes it possible to treat chronic insomniacs by training their natural ability to fall and stay asleep via a technique known as neurofeedback training. Why brain training? In healthy individuals, the brain presents a healthy combination of high and low-frequency brain waves. Low-frequency waves dominate the activity of the brain during sleep. In the brain of chronic insomniacs, however, an excessive amount of high-frequency activity has been reported. With neurofeedback, chronic insomniacs learn to self-regulate their brain activity. They learn to tune down the frequency of their brainwaves and produce the low-frequency waves associated with healthy sleep. In practice The 3 project partners are collaborating to develop a brain-training device that chronic insomniacs can use from the comfort of their homes. The device consists of a brain-reading device (developed by Bitbrain) that sends a readout of the brainwaves to a mobile application (developed by Drowzee). The app analyses that data and guides the users towards producing sleep-inducing brainwaves. The device will be delivered to insomnia patients who will be able to train with the device at home and communicate with their clinician through an electronic sleep diary developed by Akershus University Hospital. The project progress In the first 6 months of the project, all partners have contributed to the development of the technology. We now have a new neurofeedback training protocol available in the mobile app, 15 brain-reading headbands ready, and the patient-clinician communication channel implemented in the sleep diary. We are currently working on the integration between the mobile app and headbands, to make sure that they communicate correctly. The next step is to test the usability and functionality of the technology.

Insufficient and poor-quality sleep is a pervasive problem in our society, affecting 20-30% of the European population on average. 10-15% of this group suffers from a long-term sleep disorder, chronic insomnia, which has a negative impact on peoples’ health, well-being and productivity and leads to far-reaching economic consequences. Health-related repercussions of sleep deprivation are premature mortality, increased incidence of cardiovascular diseases, as well as depression, suicidal attempts and reduced cognitive performance (Riemann et al, 2017, Chattu et al, 2019). From an economic perspective, the cost of insomnia has been estimated to account for 1.5-3% of the annual GDP of Western countries due to loss in economic output (Hafner et al, 2016). The Consortium’s vision is to empower people to obtain rest any time they need it and contribute to defeating the insomnia epidemic through the latest advances in neurotechnology. We strive to implement a wearable EEG device for sleep improvement while reducing the operational cost of treating insomnia for the healthcare system. The technology will consist of a mobile app providing personalized programs for sleep improvement (Drowzee), a wearable brain-sensing headset (Bitbrain) and a treatment communication channel operating with an electronic sleep diary developed by Akershus University Hospital (AHUS). The technology will first be tested in terms of usability and efficacy and then validated in a clinical setting on chronic insomniacs (AHUS). The consortium will face R&D challenges associated with the EEG hardware and software. In the hardware domain, the challenge is to deliver a user-friendly device which provides the necessary signal quality for use in a clinical setting. In the software domain, the challenge is to deliver a neurofeedback training system that provides effective insomnia treatment for home-use. These are challenges that the consortium can solve using its combined 12+ years of experience developing EEG-based systems.

Funding scheme:

EUROSTARS-EUROSTARS