Silent BOLD imaging

Pulsed magnetic field gradients in magnetic resonance imaging produce high levels of acoustic noise. In functional magnetic resonance imaging, acoustic scanner noise causes unwanted masking effects. Recently, we proposed a method to perform magnetic resonance imaging experiments undisturbed by acoustic scanner noise by utilizing the property of standard gradient coils to poorly submit acoustic noise in the low frequency range. The silent gradient scheme is now incorporated into a standard T(2)*-weighted sequence. Additionally, simultaneous multi-slice excitation (SIMEX) pulses were implemented to improve the intrinsic low volume coverage of the silent sequence. The proposed silent SIMEX technique was tested and compared with a standard noisy technique using auditory and visual stimulation paradigms. The scanner noise during the silent experiments could be reduced below the range of the ambient noise of the magnet room. This feasibility study shows a trend of decreased activated areas in the noisy experiment for both, the visual and auditory paradigm.