Investigation of ―Begena‖ Sound Emotional effect on a Depressed Subject based on Frequency-Domain EEG Signal Analysis

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.