A new study has highlighted the potential of combining sound and electrical stimulation as an approach to several neurological and chronic conditions.
Research conducted by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, found sound combined with electrical body stimulations activates the brain’s somatosensory or “tactile” cortex.
The somatosensory cortex is located in the post central gyrus of the parietal love and it lies behind the primary motor cortex of the frontal lobe. This cortex receives tactile information from the body, including sensations such as pressure, touch, temperature and pain.
Researchers found that a combination of electrical body stimulations and sound may increase the chance to treat chronic pain and other sensory disorders thanks to the reaction of the somatosensory cortex.
During the experiment, researchers electrically stimulated different parts of the body in guinea pigs while playing broadband sounds.
“Chronic pain is a huge issue for a lot of people, and for most, it’s not sufficiently treatable,” said Cory Gloeckner, lead author of the paper. “Right now, one of the ways that we try to treat pain is opioids, and we all know that doesn’t work out well for many people.
“This, on the other hand, is a non-invasive, simple application. It’s not some expensive medical device that you have to buy in order to treat your pain. It’s something that we think would be available to pretty much anyone because of its low cost and simplicity.”
Senior author of the paper Hubert Lim said: “It’s odd to think about using sound to treat pain, but if you think about what institutes […] are doing, they’re looking at music therapy and combining other modalities with the traditional methods to be able to enhance healing of these types of conditions.
“This research gives us a new, structured framework for doing that moving forward.”
