Effects of Auditory and Visual White Noise on Oculomotor Inhibition in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Protocol for a Crossover Study.

Background: In attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), poor inhibitory control is one of the main characteristics, with oculomotor inhibition impairments being considered a potential biomarker of the disorder. While auditory white noise has demonstrated the ability to enhance working memory in this group, visual white noise is still unexplored and so are the effects of both types of white noise stimulation on oculomotor inhibition.
Objective: This crossover study aims to explore the impact of auditory and visual white noise on oculomotor inhibition in children with ADHD and typically developing (TD) children. The study will investigate the impact of different noise levels (25% and 50% visual, 78 dB auditory), and performance will be evaluated both with and without noise stimulation. We hypothesize that exposure to white noise will improve performance in children with ADHD and impair the performance for TD children.
Methods: Memory-guided saccades and prolonged fixations, known for their sensitivity in detecting oculomotor disinhibition in ADHD, will be used to assess performance. Children diagnosed with ADHD, withdrawing from medication for 24 hours, and TD children without psychiatric disorders were recruited for the study.
Results: Data collection was initiated in October 2023 and ended in February 2024. A total of 97 participants were enrolled, and the first results are expected between September and November 2024.
Conclusions: This study will examine whether cross-modal sensory stimulation can enhance executive function, specifically eye movement control, in children with ADHD. In addition, the study will explore potential differences between auditory and visual noise effects in both groups. Our goal is to identify implications for understanding how noise can be used to improve cognitive performance.
Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06057441; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06057441.
International Registered Report Identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/56388.
(©Erica Jostrup, Marcus Nyström, Pia Tallberg, Göran Söderlund, Peik Gustafsson, Emma Claesdotter-Knutsson. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 15.08.2024.)