There are studies that show that abnormalities in processes and dynamics in the brains of schizophrenic patients cause high-frequency neural oscillations. Patients may experience instantly developing hallucination crises because of these oscillations, and there is no health service that patients can receive support from at any time in these sudden crises. In this study, the first results of the avatar-based mobile application that is supported by binaural beats (BB) are shared, which provides positive effects in other diseases and will reduce the high-frequency abnormal oscillations in the brains of schizophrenia patients to the range seen in healthy individuals. Audio files that contained motivational phrases supported by BBs shaped by semi-structured interviews with patients were created in the first step. These files were added to the designed three-dimensional avatars and transferred to the mobile application in the second step. The study results were evaluated using qualitative and quantitative methods. While the qualitative tools consisted of semi-structured interviews conducted with patients and their relatives and clinical observations by the responsible physician, the quantitative tools were four psychiatric scales. These evaluation methods were applied before and after the voice therapy and before and after the avatar therapy. Four schizophrenia patients were included in the study, designed in a cross-sectional design. The effects that improved the quality of life of two patients who adhered to therapy were observed. This study presents the first results of an avatar-supported mobile application that uses BBs and that schizophrenia patients can access at any time.
Cite this article as: R. Şahinbaş, S. Tekin and İ. Zaim Gökbay, "A proposal to support schizophrenia patients: mobile application based on binaural beats and 3D avatar," Electrica, 24(1), 131-139, 2024.