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Traumatic Brain Injury
Entraining the Brain the Audiovisual Way to Treat Concussion
An option for when you learn strategies don’t restore injured neurons.
Posted July 29, 2019
My first encounter with audiovisual entrainment (AVE) was in a psychologist’s office. He handed me a pair of what looked like goggle-sized mirrored sunglasses (the Omniscreen) with a translucent plastic screen covering the inside of the glasses, behind which lay LED lights, four to each lens. He then handed me a pair of headphones.
Once I had them on, he turned a black box on. Light flashed in my eyes, and binaural beats pulsed in my ears in a synchronized pattern.
I didn’t see white light flashes, though; instead, the brain translated them into colors and patterns. (I soon discovered that different sessions produced different colors, and some even turned black, like there was barely any light there.)
He did that for five minutes to see how I would react to this technology, which he called "neurofeedback."
I had no problems with it—it almost put me to sleep.
Rather nice, with my brain-injury-induced sleep deprivation.
After that, I looked forward to my neurofeedback sessions. It wasn’t the binaural beats, per se, nor the meditation-like effect that was making a difference to my brain function; it was the light patterns entraining my brainwaves into the desired frequencies.
My psychologist chose which brainwave frequencies to entrain based on my symptoms and stressors. Although sometimes a bit of dizziness and tiredness with an amazingly improved vision followed each session, over time, as my brain function improved, the dizziness and tiredness went.
The improved vision continued; even within 10 minutes, I have more energy, am more alert, and have an active mind, unless it’s a session meant to induce sleep.
But my psychologist never told me that there was a home unit. I found out when I discontinued my sessions with him and began to attend Dr. Lynda Thompson’s ADD Clinic. Thompson told me of Mind Alive. That was back in 2005.
I use their DAVID unit. DAVID stands for Digital Audio Visual Integration Device. It’s a black box that has up to 35 pre-programmed sessions, as well as options to create your own.
The first time I used the home unit in 2005, I chose the SMR (Sensory Motor Rhythm) session. Since I’m sensitive to lights and sounds, I set the levels low. This session entrains the brain at 14 Hz beta brainwaves for 24 minutes. I slept for an hour and a half afterward; I woke up for the first time in over five years not feeling like a zombie. Literally. I was astounded and very, very happy.
Since then, after experimenting, I’ve settled on my favorite sessions. As I continued to improve over the years, some sessions became less effective, while others began to have a beneficial effect on me.
AVE is individualized medicine. One must not only consider the particular injury or illness but also how one’s brain is functioning via qEEG.
Unfortunately, it’s still difficult to find psychologists or psychiatrists who know how to conduct qEEG and interpret the results; even more difficult to find ones who may have received qEEG reports and understand them but won’t prescribe AVE. So it’s not surprising that many people are like me and do it themselves.
When you first start, particularly if you have no one to guide you, it’s a good idea to read the research at the Mind Alive website and do a PubMed search on this effective technology.
Some AVE sessions have a paradoxical effect on people with brain injury. For example, the SMR/Beta session relaxes a person with a brain injury like the alpha brainwave session does for neurotypical people, but perhaps not for a person with brain injury.
It’s a good idea to have a glass of water ready to drink after a session. Hydration is good for the brain.
I have never used the sessions that entrain higher frequency beta waves, because rumination occurs at about 20 Hz or above. Like many with brain injury, I have a problem with rumination; it’s not a good idea to inadvertently stimulate it.
You want to set yourself up for success, and you want to have things be gentle on you in the beginning so you’re more likely to use it again and not overwhelm yourself. AVE helps my brain function better when I need it to. And it makes logical sense.
The brain is an electrical organ with cells designed to conduct electricity and to create electricity and that uses chemicals to propagate electrical activity between cells. It’s an ingenious organ.
For too long, medical researchers have been focusing on chemical aspects only. But when the movement of electrons is the brain’s primary way of controlling the body and your mental activities, that narrow focus ignores innovative ways to effect change.
Some medical researchers are moving that way, but unfortunately, they like the dramatic route. They are experimenting with methods like large magnets (since magnets induce electrical activity) or deep-brain stimulation.
But really, why gravitate to such invasive, risky methods with side effects when we have built into us natural methods of creating electrical activity? They’re the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. All these take sensory inputs, convert them to electrical signals, and send them to the brain for processing and acting on.
AVE uses two of these input methods, eyes, and ears, to stimulate the brain in a way that avoids the big risks associated with brain surgery and large magnets. It’s cheaper and more accessible, too.
Copyright ©2019 Shireen Anne Jeejeebhoy. May not be reprinted or reposted without permission.
