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EEG-Guided Binaural Beat Audio to Reduce Performance-Related Stress and Improve Cognition

NCT07407426 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 32

Last updated 2026-04-13

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Performance-related stress can impair sustained attention, inhibitory control, and memory. This randomized, double-blinded, sham-controlled parallel-arm trial evaluates whether a 30-minute EEG-guided binaural beat audio intervention reduces subjective stress/performance anxiety and improves cognition, and whether it changes task-related brain reactivity measured by fMRI. The intervention uses real-time single-electrode EEG recorded over the left prefrontal cortex to dynamically adjust binaural beat frequencies to guide the brain toward a target state; the sham condition uses non-binaural music delivered through identical headphones.

Adult music majors preparing for an upcoming concert will complete pre- and post-intervention fMRI sessions during cognitive/music tasks (Stop Signal Reaction Task, Music Reading Task, Music Memory Retrieval Task) and complete visual analog scales (VAS) assessing performance anxiety, stress, and related subjective states. The primary outcomes include fMRI task-related activity in stress-regulation regions (dlPFC, amygdala, hippocampus), behavioral inhibition indices from the stop-signal task, music memory retrieval accuracy, and VAS-reported stress/performance anxiety.

Conditions

  • Cognitive Abilities
  • Performance
  • Stress
  • Cognitive Performance

Interventions

OTHER

EEG-guided binaural beat audio

30-minute session delivered via headphones; proprietary algorithm uses real-time single-electrode EEG from the left prefrontal cortex to dynamically adjust binaural beat frequencies.

OTHER

Non-binaural audio intervention

30-minute session of music without frequency differences between ears (non-binaural), delivered via identical headphones; blinding maintained.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Texas Tech University

    collaborator OTHER

  • Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2026-04-07
Primary Completion
2026-05-31
Completion
2026-08-30

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT07407426 on ClinicalTrials.gov