Toward applying a device to reduce motion artifact during imaging: a randomized controlled trial

One of the most critical problems in different types of medical imaging modalities is unwanted patient movement during imaging procedures, which mainly occurs because of stress, anxiety, and restlessness in patients, resulting in poor image quality and decreased diagnostic accuracy.

This prospective, randomized, double-blinded, controlled trial comprised 267 patients who underwent MPI, randomly divided into three groups; Group I: streaming music with a special binaural beat frequency (MBB); Group II: streaming simple music (SM) and Group III: control group. Anxiety level was determined by the Depression Anxiety Stress-Scale (DASS) questionnaire and heart rate was monitored.

Stress and anxiety scores were significantly lower in the MBB group compared with both SM and control group (P˂0.0001). Additionally, a significant decrease in heart rate of patients who were in the MBB group in comparison with the SM (p = 0.005) and control group (P = 0.018) was observed. The study revealed a significant decrease in motion artifact in the MBB group compared with the SM (P = 0.003) and control (P˂0.0001) groups.

Using the proposed device capable of streaming special binaural beat frequency embedded music can cause a significant reduction in anxiety level, heart rate, and consequently motion artifact.