Sleep Salon - Closed-loop auditory stimulation: The promise and the puzzle

The Quebec Sleep Research Network is pleased to invite you to the second webinar in the Sleep Salon series. This series of webinars will focus on fundamental research in sleep, circadian rhythms, and dreaming. This webinar will be presented in English.

Title of Sleep Salon #2 : Closed-loop auditory stimulation: The promise and the puzzle

Speaker : Emily Coffey, associate professor at the department of psychology at Concordia University

Where : Online

When : June 16, 2026, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Description of Sleep Salon #2 : 

Closed-loop auditory stimulation (CLAS) has emerged as a powerful tool for precisely manipulating sleep oscillations, yet the field faces a fundamental paradox: we can reliably enhance slow oscillations and sleep spindles, but predicting when and whether these neural changes will translate to memory benefits remains elusive. This disconnect between consistent neurophysiological effects and inconsistent behavioural outcomes points to a gap in mechanistic understanding. In this talk, Dr Coffey will present work examining how stimulation timing shapes neurophysiological responses, and discuss current models of how the auditory system interacts with ongoing sleep oscillations, including the roles of the auditory pathway. She will consider what these models suggest about why enhancing oscillations may be necessary but insufficient for memory benefits, and what questions remain open. Rather than proposing a resolved framework, this webinar aims to map the puzzle clearly: identifying what we know, what we can now manipulate using new tools, and where the field needs to go to transform CLAS from a promising technique into a theoretically grounded intervention with predictable outcomes.