O sleep, despite being essential to our existence, is still not fully understood by science. In this sense, researchers conducted a study to investigate how the brain reacts to sounds while we sleep, and made promising discoveries. The work was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience on the 25th of July.
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Are we able to hear sounds while sleeping?
The scientific article indicated that the human brain remains responsive to sounds even during sleep, however, it does not receive feedback (response) from certain areas, that is, it is as if it were an orchestra without the maestro.
Researchers compared auditory responses during wakefulness and sleep in 13 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. For this, a series of complex tests was performed during 14 sessions, eight of which were night sessions. of about 46 minutes each and six of daytime naps lasting approximately 7.7 minutes.
Sound stimuli used during the experiment
Auditory stimuli were used through a bedside speaker. The researchers used the following sounds: clicks, tones, words, phrases and music. The intensity level was adjusted before each session and the sleep and wake states were defined based on previously established guidelines.
Main results
Participants' brains responded to sound stimuli in the same way, both during sleep and wakefulness. In both situations, there was rapid electrical activity and high frequency gamma waves (80-200 Hz) were recorded in some regions of the temporal lobe.
The observed responses are related to the processing of auditory information, which is why the authors concluded that there is a possibility that the brain responds to sounds even while we sleep, although the mechanism for this is not yet fully understood. Of course. Similar findings had already been seen in research carried out with animals.
The authors point out that the study has some limitations, such as the fact that the researched individuals are affected by epilepsy and also some technical details of the experiment. Anyway, the results are promising and can serve as a guide for further research of the same type.
