A Preliminary Study of the Auditory Stimulation Relieving Mental Fatigue Behaviours

Mental fatigue, which is common in aviation, is one of the representative symptoms of depression and affects work efficiency and long-term mental health. There have been a lot of studies on musical treatments, yet few are concerned about the effects of acoustic waves on mental fatigue. It is necessary to investigate the effects of auditory stimulation on mental fatigue. This study used a 24-hour-restraint mouse model with mental fatigue symptoms as animal subjects. The 24-hour-restraint mice were divided into a control group and two acoustic groups. Two auditory stimulation, i.e., pink noise with 5kHz pure tone and pink noise with 10kHz pure tone, were generated for each acoustic group. Each acoustic group was exposed to one stimulus at 60 dB(A) for 1h per day. After 7 days, we carried out the open field test and the forced swimming test. We found increased total distance and latency to abandon and decreased immobility time in the auditory stimulation groups compared to the control group. The pink noise with high-frequency tones may have positive effects on relieving mental fatigue behaviours.