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Hearing can be affected by electrical stimulation under certain conditions:
Our brain is adept at synchronizing with rhythmic sounds, whether it's the beat of a song or the steady patter of rain. This ability helps us recognize and process sounds more effectively. A research team led by the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main has shown that stimulation with weak electrical currents, known as transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), can influence this ability. The new study was recently published in the journal PLOS Biology.
The study builds on previous work showing that tACS can either enhance or suppress brain rhythms depending on how it's timed with incoming sound. In order to investigate the interaction between electrical stimulation and brain rhythms, 50 participants took part in 3 experiments where they listened to noisy sounds and were asked to identify short, barely perceptible pauses. The researchers then transmitted electrical rhythms to the participants' brains via electrodes placed on their scalps several times to see how this influenced their brain activity.
The results showed that when natural rhythmic sounds were present, the brain primarily followed these stimuli with clear behavioral consequences. The degree of synchronization varied depending on how dominant the rhythms were. However, the electrical current had little influence on this. Only when the sounds had hardly any rhythm or were barely perceptible was the influence of electrical stimulation clearly noticeable. Interestingly, the effect varied greatly from person to person, with each individual responding most strongly to a different stimulation frequency.
“The study shows how the brain responds to stimulation frequencies on an individual level. Weak currents can influence hearing, but only if strong rhythmic acoustic stimuli are not present to interfere. For it to be effective, the frequency of the current must also be adjusted for each individual,” explains lead author Yuranny Cabral-Calderin from MPIEA.
This research opens new possibilities for personalized brain stimulation techniques aimed at enhancing attention, perception, and potentially supporting rehabilitation. First, it demonstrates that rhythmic auditory stimulation can reliably modulate brain activity and influence behavior, highlighting its potential as a low-cost, non-invasive neuromodulation approach. Second, the findings suggest that therapeutic applications of electrical brain stimulation to support auditory processing should be individually tailored—adjusting stimulation parameters to align with each person's endogenous brain rhythms for maximal effectiveness.
Dr. Yuranny Cabral-Calderin
Cabral-Calderin, Y. & Henry, M. J. (2025). Sensory Stimuli Dominate over Rhythmic Electrical Stimulation in Modulating Behavior. PLOS Biology. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003180
Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS): Every individual responded most strongly to a d ...
MPI for Empirical Aesthetics / F. Bernoully
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Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS): Every individual responded most strongly to a d ...
MPI for Empirical Aesthetics / F. Bernoully
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