SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Sleep and Circadian Rhythms
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2025.1572086
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Acoustic Stimulation in the Treatment of Insomnia
Provisionally accepted
- Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China
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Background: Insomnia is a prevalent and debilitating sleep disorder affecting a pproximately one-third of the global population, with 10% to 15% of individua ls progressing to chronic insomnia. Acoustic stimulation, a promising non-phar macological treatment, has gained significant attention due to its ability to impr ove sleep quality without the adverse effects of drugs. This study aims to eval uate the clinical efficacy of acoustic stimulation for treating insomnia through a systematic review and meta-analysis.: We conducted a systematic search of both Chinese and English literature from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane, and Clinical Trials databases to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating acoustic stimulation for insomnia. The search period ranged from the establishment of the database to January 1, 2025. Two independent evaluators assessed study quality and extracted relevant data. Statistical analyses were conducted using RevMan 5.4 and Stata 18.0 software. Results: This meta-analysis includes 8 studies involving 419 patients. The results showed that acoustic stimulation significantly improved insomnia severity as evidenced by PSQI and ISI scores. Despite no significant improvement in sleep efficiency (SE) and Total sleep time (TST), acoustic stimulation notably increased total sleep time and alleviated insomnia symptoms. The test group demonstrated significant improvements compared to the control group, with the following outcomes: PSQI score (MD = -2.68, 95% CI [-3.35, -2.01], P < 0.00001) and ISI score (MD = -2.26, 95% CI [-4.09, -0.43], P=0.02). Conclusion: Acoustic stimulation is an effective and safe treatment for insomnia, offering significant improvements in sleep quality, severity, and overall health, with minimal side effects. It presents a promising alternative to traditional pharmacological treatments, especially for long-term use, and its clinical application has broad prospects. Future studies should focus on expanding sample sizes, exploring various stimulation methods, and considering individual patient characteristics for more detailed analyses.
Keywords: Acoustic Stimulation, Insomnia treatment, sleep quality, non-pharmacological therapy, Meta-analysis
Received: 06 Feb 2025; Accepted: 20 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Fan, Wang and Ren. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jixiang Ren, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.