Near-silent Looping Star fMRI during a passive listening task: preliminary results

Motivation: Standard echo-planar fMRI sequences are very loud (> 100 dB) and may lead to adverse health effects. Looping star (LS) fMRI might be a potential alternative at lower sound levels, especially in studies sensitive to noise levels such as those using auditory stimuli. Goal(s): To investigate the relative BOLD signal of LS in comparison to standard EPI using a passive listening task. Approach: Passive presentation of auditory stimuli during LS and EPI fMRI scans and comparison of the recorded BOLD signal. Results: LS and EPI show similar sensitivity to BOLD signal elicited by passively listening to auditory stimuli. Impact: : LS may be a valid alternative for future research utilizing auditory stimuli without the added confound of background noise and the risk of adverse health effects. The sequence might also be specifically suitable to research sound averse populations.