Participate in a Sleep EEG Experiment!
The aim of the study

This study investigates the effect of quiet, non-arousing tones on the sleeping brain. We aim at improving sleep quality substantially with the long-term goal to develop an alternative, non-invasive therapy for epilepsy. For that, we use high-density EEG to measure your brain activity during sleep.

Participants above and at the age of 18 will be paid 200 CHF (100 CHF per night). Children and partipants below the age of 18 will be thanked with two book, game or cinema vouchers (1 per night), as well as a little present uppon completing the study. In the exceptional case that the experiment cannot be completed, you will be compensated partially.
Who can participate?

Participants are screened so that they are very similar among each other, without introducing confounding elements that might bias the results.

You must be:

  • Between the ages of 18 and 30
  • Healthy (all above mentioned ages) or diagnosed with epilepsy (4-17 y)
  • Of an average or early chronotype
  • If healthy: A good sleeper
  • Right-handed

You cannot participate if any of the following applies to you:

  • Sleeping problems
  • An irregular sleep-wake rhythm
  • Daytime sleepiness or daytime naps
  • Having travelled through time-zones during the last 30 days.
  • Obesity
  • Excessive sweating
  • Hearing disorder
  • Pregnancy
  • Skin allergy or very sensitive skin
  • Drug and medication use or abuse
  • Daily nicotine use or high caffeine or alcohol consumption
  • Inability to follow the procedures of the study

If you're not sure, or hope that something doesn't apply exactly to your situation, it will become clear with the Screening Questionnaire (provided below) if you are eligibile or not.

Risks

There are no risky procedures involved in this study if you are a healthy young participant without skin problems. Even though your comfort during the study is our highest priority, you may have problems to fall asleep in a new environment. Furthermore, some people react negatively to the conductive gel used for the EEG, but these are individuals who tend to have multiple skin allergies, eczemas, etc.

The experiment
Preparation for the study:
Online screening procedure: this is to determine if you are eligibile to participate (see criteria above). It will ask you questions about your health, drinking, smoking and drug use, sleep habits and other aspects that would make you ineligibile to participate.
Over the phone meetings and questionnaires: Here you can ask questions and sign the formal consent form.

Participation is entirely voluntary. If you decide to withdraw, you do not need to give a reason. This study was approved by the Kantonale Ethikkommission Zürich (BASEC ID: 2019-02134). For more information, you can read the Information and Consent document in German or English , which is what you will need to sign before participating.

When and where

All recording sessions will presumably be conducted between June 2023 and June 2024.  The experiment will take place at the Kinderpsital Zurich.

How to participate

Within the next few days you will find the screening questionnaire here. After filling out this questionnaire, you will know whether you are eligibile or not.

To make sure you fit the criteria for participating, you can start by filling in this fully anonymous screening questionnaire. Answers provided, as well as all data collected for the experiment, will be treated with full confidentiality. We have noticed that Safari does not save your given answers correctly. Please use either Chrome, Firefox or Opera to fill out the questionnaire.

Who are we

We are part of the Child Development Center at the University Children's Hospital of Zurich. We specialize in using high density EEG to study local changes in sleep and sleep pressure.  Prof. Reto Huber is the principal investigator, Sven Leach is overseeing the project and supporting Elena Schmidt who is conducting this study for her PhD thesis and Lisa Cazzato writes her master thesis with us.

If you have any qustions, you may contact Elena directly:

elena.schmidt@kispi.uzh.ch