In a departure from common understanding, recent evidence from the University of British Columbia (UBC) challenges the notion that hearing fades early in the dying process. Published in Scientific Reports, this pioneering study marks the first attempt to investigate the auditory capabilities of humans close to death, leveraging electroencephalography (EEG) to gauge brain electrical activity.
The research meticulously analyzed data from three distinct groups: healthy control participants, conscious hospice patients, and the same patients in an unresponsive state. All participants were undergoing palliative care at St. John Hospice in Vancouver. Elizabeth Blundon, the study’s lead author, shed light on the phenomenon, stating, “In the last hours before an expected natural death, many people enter a period of unresponsiveness.” The results intriguingly indicate that the brains of individuals in an unconscious state can still respond to auditory stimuli, persisting until the final hours of life.
The experimental protocol involved exposing participants to various sound patterns, prompting them to signal in response to rare tones. The EEG methodically monitored the participants’ brain responses, unveiling that certain dying patients exhibited reactions akin to their healthy counterparts, even when in proximity to death.
Highlighting the need for meticulous scrutiny of individual data, Lawrence Ward, a professor at UBC, underscored the significance of confirming similarities in brain responses. This research, derived from a European study, transposed a similar paradigm to actively dying and unresponsive patients, involving collaboration with Dr. Romayne Gallagher, a palliative care physician at St. John Hospice.
Drawing on her extensive experience spanning three decades, Dr. Gallagher attested to witnessing positive reactions in dying patients when addressed by loved ones. The research fortifies the observation that the sounds of loved ones can offer solace in the final moments, imparting a profound significance to the concluding days of life. While the findings suggest that individuals near death may hear, the study refrains from definitively confirming their awareness or comprehension of the auditory stimuli.
Blundon concluded, “This first glimpse supports the idea that we have to keep talking to people when they are dying because something is happening in their brain.”
Source: University of British Columbia
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