Effect of a single Audio-Visual Brain Entrainment session on Heart Rate Variability: a clinical trial with 100 adult volunteers

Presented at the 2020 International Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health. Published at Global Advances in Health and Medicine Volume 9, 2020. DOI: 10.1177/2164956120912849.

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Title:

Effect of a single Audio-Visual Brain Entrainment session on Heart Rate Variability: a clinical trial with 100 adult volunteers.

Authors:

Michael Porter,
Patrick Porter,
Afonso Inoue Shiguemi Salgado
Francisco J Cidral-Filho

Affiliations:

1. Integrative Physical Therapy Residency – Salgado Institute of Integrative Health, Londrina, PR – Brazil.
2. Quantum University, Honolulu, HI – USA.

Objective:

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the Audio-Visual Brain Entrainment (ABE) on Heart Rate Variability.

Methods:

Sample size consisted of 100 adult volunteers (50 males and 50 females) with no hearing disabilities. ABE was delivered with a BrainTap headset (New Bern – NC – USA) in a 20-minute session. Session consists of Binaural beats at 18 to 0.5 HZ, Isochronic Tones at 18 to .0.5 HZ and visual Entrainment through light-emitting diode lights at 470 nanometers (nm) flickering at 18 to 0.5 HZ. Heart rate Variability (Dinamika HRV – Advanced Heart Rate Variability Test System, Moscow, Russia) was assessed at baseline and after ABE session.

Results:

ABE significantly (1) increased Heart Rate Variability: HRV Index (A low HRV is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease – p<0.001, 21.8%) and RRNN (RR normal-to-normal intervals; a marker of overall HRV activity – p<0.001, 6.8%); (2) increased Parasympathetic activity markers: RMSSD (Root Mean Square of the Successive RR interval Differences – p<0.0001, 32.2%), NN50 (The number of pairs of successive NN (R-R) intervals that differ by more than 50 ms – p<0.0001, 50.6%), pNN50% (The proportion of NN50 divided by the total number of NN (R-R) intervals – p<0.001, 51.6%), HFnu (High Frequency Band: index of modulation of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system – p<0.0336, 37.1%), and LFnu: (Low Frequency Band: general indicator of aggregate modulation of both the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the Autonomic Nervous System – p<0.0048, 45.1%); and (3) decreased Stress Index (p<0.001, 38.4%) and Heart Rate (p<0.0001, 6.2%).

Conclusion:

A single Audio-Visual Brain Entrainment session with the BrainTap Headset significantly increased heart rate variability and parasympathetic activity, as well as decreased stress index and heart rate.

Graphs

Increased Heart Rate Variability:

HRV Index (A low HRV is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease)

RRNN (RR normal-to-normal intervals; a marker of overall HRV activity)

Increased Parasympathetic activity markers:

RMSSD (Root Mean Square of the Successive RR interval Differences; a marker of Parasympathetic activity)

NN50 (The number of pairs of successive NN (R-R) intervals that differ by more than 50 ms; a marker of Parasympathetic activity)

pNN50% (The proportion of NN50 divided by the total number of NN (R-R) intervals; a marker of Parasympathetic activity)

HFnu (High Frequency Band: index of modulation of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system)

LFnu: (Low Frequency Band: general indicator of aggregate modulation of both the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the Autonomic Nervous System)

Decreased Stress Index

Decreased Heart Rate