LED headset shows promise for Alzheimer’s, brain injuries | CITY News

Full Story: LED headset shows promise for Alzheimer’s, brain injuries | CITY News
This device/protocol is new to me, though I have been looking into Low Laser Light Therapy which looks promising. I will be looking into the science around this device, also its history, i.e. which came first, the device or the science.

Lew Lim, the founder and CEO of VieLight is seen explaining the device in the video.

The technology is called transcranial and intranasal photobiomodulation (PBM). Initial, small-scale results, are promising.

Five people, with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s, used the headsets every day for 12 weeks. The headset frame, with four different LED cluster-heads and an LED that clips to the inside of the nostril, was turned on for 15 minutes a day.

After the three months, neuroscientists noticed some patients, who were not able to speak in full sentences, could now put sentences together. Patients also experienced improved sleep and reduced wandering.

Sorry about the ad in the embedded video!

Paper: Significant Improvement in Cognition in Mild to Moderately Severe Dementia Cases Treated with Transcranial Plus Intranasal Photobiomodulation: Case Series Report

The device is called VieLight, (which does not include EEG which was used in the study depicted), seems to be available for sale. A smaller device, called the ‘Pocket Miracle’ is also for sale.

8 thoughts on “LED headset shows promise for Alzheimer’s, brain injuries | CITY News

  1. Hey, Guys !!
    I’ve been using a downloaded app from the play store that (so the dev. sez) hits the right range using my spare android. I’ve been at it for about a month or so just about anywhere in the room will do . My eye can pick it up. I need rate verification for my primary phone. I’m sure somebody’s working on that, right now. Two androids. One emitting, the other for fine tuning. Some papers I’ve delved into say close is good enough. It’s my brain, I want it right. At 62 I have a vested interest.
    I’m also very cheap. The app I’m using is called “Fastest Strobe” it can be found in the Google Play store, free. I need a better idea of how long each treatment should last. There could be possible negative long-term effects of over excitation.

  2. Hi John,
    I was wondering where I had heard about something like this a few months ago… I should have known it was on your blog! Namely, this entry: https://www.diytdcs.com/2016/12/gamma-waves-enhance-the-brains-immune-system-to-treat-mice-with-alzheimers-disease/
    Am I properly connecting the dots: the Dec article speaks of gama wave introduction into the brain via the eyes, whereas this article utilizes introduction via the scalp and also the nose/nasal passages? And, also, this article speaks of more than one frequency – 10hz alpha, and 40hz gama.
    After a quick look at the devices on Vielight’s website
    http://vielight.com/devices/
    I’d say 1) they are pricey – but perhaps I’m just accustomed to the price level of tDCS? and 2) I wonder why a single device couldn’t produce 10 and 40 Hz light – though, perhaps it requires a different device structure, rather than, say, the variable electrical current available with a tDCS device
    A final observation: the radiolab podcast (mentioned in your Dec post) was indeed a great listen (those guys have a lot of great material presented in a well done audio fomat).
    As always, thanks for the informative research and information you provide in a central location

    • It does seem pricey. And there isn’t a lot of data to back it up. And in the paper that is cited, one of the authors is the developer of VieLight. That said, if I personally had a loved one slipping down the Alzheimer’s tunnel, I don’t think there’s anything I wouldn’t try. But probably I’d be tempted to try 40 Hz tACS first. And I’d try a montage that targeted the Hippocampus. I’d have to be pretty desperate to do that though! There’s so much we don’t know. Like… what happens to all that Amyloid Beta if/when the increase in Gamma activity inspires the microglia to get busy? Could you put yourself in danger of a stroke? Probably the mice were sacrificed in order to determine the extent their Amyloid Beta decreased. Is there a blood or urine test that could help us figure it out for ourselves?
      There seems to be quite a bit of YouTube activity around building 40Hz strobes to target your own visual cortex. Though I saw a Reddit thread suggesting that videos of 40Hz strobing won’t display correctly on a 60Hz monitor.

      • I agree with you that if I or a loved one was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I’d probably try several things that might as of now be unproven or untested with clinical trials (within reason). But, as we all know, snake oil salesmen abound.

        And as much as the Radiolab podcast was fascinating and encouraging, one of the potentially disappointing remarks (about 23:30) was that a study showed there was a *99.6%* failure rate in moving something that worked in mice to humans.

        I’m curious why you say you’d try tACS vs tDCS? Because it has to be alternating to “flicker” the current?

        After your December post, I had an interesting coincidence – I received an email (I’ve been on his email list for years) from Audiostrobe – the owner/developer’s father had recently passed away and had suffered from Alzheimer’s. I sent him a link to your post and the Dr. Li youtube link… he said he could easily incorporate a 40 Hz flicker program into his product.

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