Researchers discover that simple device could help schizophrenia patients

Researchers at the University of Bergen in Norway have found that a simple electronic application may help those suffering from schizophrenia. One of the most common symptoms of schizophrenia is auditory hallucination, or ‘inner voices.’ The frontal lobes of the brains of schizophrenia patients do not function properly, allowing the inner voices to take over. Using headphones, the application exposes patients to different simple speech sounds in each ear. The task is to practice hearing the sound in one ear while blocking out sound in the other. This exercise is to hear one sound while blocking out the other. “The voices are still there, but the test subjects feel that they have control over the voices instead of the other way around. The patient feels it is a breakthrough since it means he can actively shift his focus from the inner voices over to the sounds coming from the outside,” explains Professor Kenneth Hugdahl.