Abstract:
Depression is a common mental disorder that causes disabilities and loss of life. Methods
including EEG have been used to diagnose depression, as it relates to a decrease in the Alpha
mean power across depression-sensitive brain regions. Although psychotherapy and medication
are the two common treatment options, the associated gaps such as; high treatment cost,
medication side effects, and treatment failure due to psychotherapist turnover are some of the
current challenges. Alternatively, music therapy found to be a natural option to relieve
depression. A potential healing capability exhibited in the Begena sound is a motivation for this
study.
Hence, the objective of this study was to investigate the emotional effect of the Begena's sound
on a depressed subject based on EEG signal analysis. Six subjects of age 22±3 were screened
based on their PHQ-9 score to confirm depression. A 16-channel EEG signal was acquired from
the subject for two minutes in each condition (before and after exposure to the Begena sound).
EEGLAB software used for pre-processing and the Welch‘s method was applied to extract the
Alpha mean power at the depression-sensitive parts of the brain; particularly at temporal
(T3&T4), Parietal (P3 & P4), Occipital (O3 & O4), and prefrontal cortex (Fp1& Fp2). Then a
paired sample T-test was done at a 0.05 confidence level (P) to determine any significant change
in the Alpha mean power.
The results showed an increased Alpha mean power nearly to all depression-sensitive areas of
the brain after Begena sound intervention compared to a silent resting state, and their brain
performance more closely resembled a healthy subject‘s waveforms as reported in literature. A
statistically significant change (p<0.05) was observed in all subjects. Although the study was
conducted with a limited sample size, the results warrant further study of the therapeutic benefit
of the Begena's sound.
