Can the Brain of a Patient in a Coma React to Sounds? Athina Tzovara, Marzia De Lucia [Ressource électronique]

When people are in comas, they are unconscious and cannot communicate with their environment. They cannot speak and their eyes are closed. They look as if they are asleep. However, the brain of a coma patient may continue to work. It might “hear” the sounds in the environment, like the footsteps of someone approaching or the voice of a person speaking. In this article, we will see how we can measure brain activity in patients who are comatose and how the brains of coma patients react to sounds. These reactions can inform medical doctors of whether the patients will awake from the coma.