Multimodal Neurorehabilitation Including Auditory EEG Neurofeedback: A Proof of Concept Tested After Resection of a Giant Olfactory Groove Meningioma

Auditory EEG feedback was feasible for one patient whose severe visual impairment made visual feedback impractical. Cognitive, functional, mobility and EEG measures changed during a broader four-week rehabilitation program, but the study cannot show which component caused those changes.

Romita A, Spina RP, Li Volsi N, Cacciapaglia C, Manippa V, Schiavariello MC, Soleto L, Fiore P, Speranzon L, De Trane S, Taurisano P, Lagravinese G.
Brain Sciences · Publication date: 2026-09-25
Added to site: 2026-09-27
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci16101022

Original publication date verified from the publisher and Crossref. This source date is separate from the site's addition date.

Modalities

EEG neurofeedback, QEEG, Neurorehabilitation

Clinical focus

Brain tumor rehabilitation, Cognition, Sensory adaptation

Population

A postoperative inpatient with severe bilateral visual impairment, executive dysfunction and mobility limitations

Sample

One 53-year-old man after emergency resection of a giant olfactory groove meningioma

Intervention / method

Twenty sessions over 4 weeks combining auditory SMR/theta EEG neurofeedback at Cz, individualized cognitive training and physiotherapy; pre-post 19-channel resting EEG and longitudinal single-channel training EEG were analyzed descriptively

Comparator

Pre-post measurements in one participant; no control condition and no rehabilitation-only comparison

Clinician summary

The patient completed all 20 sessions. Measurement-based gains were reported in global cognition, executive function, verbal recall, functional independence and mobility. The conservative longitudinal EEG analysis retained 9,936 of 10,261 epochs and found lower theta with higher SMR and beta measures, but all analyses were descriptive.

How to interpret the findings

One uncontrolled case cannot separate neurofeedback from surgery, reduction in edema, spontaneous recovery, cognitive training, physiotherapy, medication, sleep or routine care. There was only one baseline EEG, no delayed follow-up, no inferential EEG testing, and sensor-level connectivity cannot establish network normalization. Some clinical thresholds came from non-tumor populations, and higher-frequency EEG may retain muscle artifact.

Equipment and disclosures

Single-channel sessions used a ProComp5 system with BioGraph Infiniti 6.9.0.0 at Cz. Nineteen-channel resting EEG was also collected; this case does not establish product effectiveness.

Partially supported by the Ricerca Corrente scheme of the Italian Ministry of Health. The authors declared no conflicts. The paper states that ChatGPT was used for language editing, with authors reviewing the output and accepting responsibility.

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