Pilot Study: SoundSelf vs Sham (guided meditation VR) using Quantitative EEG, Altered States, and Mood.

Conducted by Jeff Tarrant, Ph.D., BCN & Fabiola Einhorn at the NeuroMeditation Institute

Dr. Jeff Tarrant is a licensed psychologist and board certified in neurofeedback. He is the Director of the NeuroMeditation Institute and author of the book, Meditation Interventions to Rewire the Brain.

SoundSelf has been measured to produce a combination of brainwave patterns that are the signature of psychedelic experience:

  • An increase of gamma across the brain

  • A descrease in activity in regions associated with the Default Mode Network

  • A decrease in alpha in the anterior

This pilot study showed that SoundSelf’s unique mechanism of voice-activated biofeedback results in rapid and significant changes in brain state, which is accompanied by improved measures of mood. The reduction in language-processing activity and changes in default mode network (DMN) highlight the synesthetic and multi-sensory facets of expanded states of consciousness. Changes in the DMN suggest SoundSelf works by reducing functional integration of the DMN, and directing awareness of the user towards interoceptive signals. This mechanism, involving the DMN and greater exposure to bottom-up signals, was recently proposed by psychedelic researcher Robin Carhart Harris in “REBUS and the Anarchic Brain: Toward a Unified Model of the Brain Action of Psychedelics”.

“The design of soundself achieves a remarkable feat: it checks off all 9 components of Flow described by Csikszentmihalyi (1990). These include a merging of action and awareness, immediate feedback, high task concentration, loss of self-consciousness (ego-directed), and autotelic experience. SoundSelf is the first technology to induce a “psychological” flow state, where the body and mind is at an optimal state to process or witness psychic phenomena. This means that you are empowered to see and feel what would otherwise be uncomfortable or overwhelming.”

Sandeep Prakash, PhD - Chief Scientific Officer