SSTIM Controlled Vocabulary

The participant changed how the stimulus reached them, such as removing headphones or looking away.

The participant chose not to say what they did.

The participant continued without changing anything.

An action none of the listed categories describes.

The participant paused delivery and later resumed.

The participant lowered volume, brightness, or another delivery level.

The participant ended delivery.

What the participant did is not recoverable from the record.

Top concept of the frequency band scheme: the set of all EEG-derived neural oscillation bands and sub-bands used in BSC protocol design. A grouping root, not a stimulation target in itself.

A named frequency interval, 8–13 Hz: the interval the alpha rhythm is delimited by. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

8–13 Hz. The conventional ambit by which the alpha rhythm is delimited; the rhythm itself is sstim-v:alphaOscillation.

A single-frequency target, 10 Hz exactly: a single frequency inside alpha. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

The canonical 10 Hz stimulation target (Berger's classic alpha peak / typical individual alpha frequency). Distinguished from broad alpha because multiple protocols specifically target this frequency. It names a delivery target, not a rhythm and not an outcome: what targeting it is claimed to do is recorded against sstim-v:alphaOscillation with a tier and a source, or as a dated knowledge-status assertion where none was found. 10 Hz sits exactly on the shared boundary of the two alpha sub-bands — the inclusive upper bound of low-alpha (8–10 Hz) and the inclusive lower bound of high-alpha (10–13 Hz) — so it is associatively related (skos:related) to both, not filed under either. skos:related is used rather than a cross-scheme mapping property such as skos:broadMatch because all three concepts are in this same scheme.

The posterior rhythm delimited conventionally at roughly 8-13 Hz, historically the first named human EEG rhythm.

"Rhythm", "wave" and "oscillation" name this same entity interchangeably, but they are near-synonyms rather than exact ones and are not substitutable in general: an oscillation is the rhythmic fluctuation itself; a wave is how it appears in a recorded signal, a word EEG also uses for deflections that are not oscillatory at all such as a P300 wave or a K-complex; and a rhythm is an oscillation regular enough to be named and tied to a state or generator, which a transient oscillatory burst is not.

The source spans several sensory modalities; every canonical modality it actually supports is still listed explicitly.

Sensory modality does not apply to this source (for example a paced-breathing intervention with no sensory delivery claim).

The source does not report, or the extraction did not establish, the sensory modality.

Presented in the surrounding environment toward sensory receptors, without a body-mounted interface.

Delivered into the epidural space.

Applied from outside the body without breaching the skin.

Delivered by a surgically placed device remaining in the body.

Delivered from within the cranial cavity.

Delivered into the intrathecal space.

Delivered through a needle or comparable skin puncture without a permanent implant.

Distributed through the body as a whole rather than applied at an identified site.

An agent infused at or near an identified target rather than distributed systemically.

Delivered across the skull toward an intracranial target.

Delivered across intact skin, without breaching it. Distinguished from the epidural and intrathecal approaches, which place the agent or electrode inside the body.

A named frequency interval, 15–30 Hz: above the sensorimotor interval. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

15–30 Hz. The conventional ambit by which the beta rhythm is delimited; the rhythm itself is sstim-v:betaOscillation.

A rhythm delimited conventionally at roughly 15-30 Hz, lower in amplitude than the slower rhythms.

"Rhythm", "wave" and "oscillation" name this same entity interchangeably, but they are near-synonyms rather than exact ones and are not substitutable in general: an oscillation is the rhythmic fluctuation itself; a wave is how it appears in a recorded signal, a word EEG also uses for deflections that are not oscillatory at all such as a P300 wave or a K-complex; and a rhythm is an oscillation regular enough to be named and tied to a state or generator, which a transient oscillatory burst is not.

Preset exposes complex controls, unusual routing, or demanding parameter combinations intended for experienced users or supervised demonstrations.

Preset requires attention, headphones, visual focus, or altered situational awareness that is incompatible with operating a vehicle or machinery.

Preset is designed for a low-arousal context and may reduce alertness; it must not be used during safety-critical activity.

Preset contains evocative sound, imagery, isolation, or social content that some users may experience as emotionally intense.

Preset contains flashing or rapid contrast modulation and therefore requires the platform's photosensitivity safeguards and an explicit avoid option.

Preset contains sustained, repetitive, visually demanding, or high-load stimulation that may be uncomfortable when the user is fatigued.

Preset uses comparatively strong, dense, bright, loud, fast, or multimodal parameters and requires conservative initial settings.

Preset is designed specifically for a quiet pre-rest context and is not intended for tasks requiring sustained alertness.

Preset combines density, intensity, motion, contrast, or multiple modalities in a way that can be difficult for sensory-sensitive users.

Caution requiring an explicit stop, avoid, or disable action when the stated trigger or context applies.

Context or experience guidance that should be visible but does not normally require blocking playback.

Caution that should be shown before use and may warrant a setting or timing adjustment.

Caution requiring prominent confirmation, reduced intensity, closer monitoring, or avoidance by sensitive users.

Preset is designed with comparatively activating, bright, rapid, or attention-demanding parameters and may not suit low-arousal contexts.

Preset requests a breathing cadence below 3 cycles per minute, outside the ordinary BSC guided-breathing range and unsuitable for forced following.

A mechanical fact about what the product does (e.g. "plays binaural beats and isochronic tones; guides paced breathing"). Permitted on every surface.

A subjective, non-universal experience report (e.g. "many people find sessions relaxing"). Hedged and non-universal; permitted on every surface.

A general wellness/function statement with no disease language (e.g. "supports relaxation and focus"). Permitted publicly; watch for drift toward C3.

A claim that affects a body function (e.g. "improves sleep", "reduces stress"). Borderline on both the medical-device and misleading-advertising vectors; assertable publicly only with at least moderate evidence.

A named-condition or symptom claim (e.g. relieves anxiety, depression, migraine, pain, suicidal ideation). Medical-device intended-purpose language; NOT publicly assertable. The underlying observation belongs in evidence-quarantine (a low-tier EvidenceClaim) and may motivate a study, never a public claim.

A magnitude or comparative-superiority claim (e.g. "20% IQ boost", "resolves X in 3 sessions"). Requires strong (RCT-grade) evidence; absent that, not publicly assertable.

The cited evidence is insufficient to determine whether the relation holds.

The cited evidence is mixed: some studies support the relation and others do not.

The body of cited evidence, on balance, does not support (or refutes) the asserted relation.

The body of cited evidence, on balance, supports the asserted relation.

A named frequency interval, 0.5–4 Hz: the slowest conventional interval. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

0.5–4 Hz. The conventional ambit by which the delta rhythm is delimited; the rhythm itself is sstim-v:deltaOscillation.

The lowest-frequency named cortical rhythm, delimited conventionally at roughly 0.5-4 Hz and among the highest in amplitude.

"Rhythm", "wave" and "oscillation" name this same entity interchangeably, but they are near-synonyms rather than exact ones and are not substitutable in general: an oscillation is the rhythmic fluctuation itself; a wave is how it appears in a recorded signal, a word EEG also uses for deflections that are not oscillatory at all such as a P300 wave or a K-complex; and a rhythm is an oscillation regular enough to be named and tied to a state or generator, which a transient oscillatory burst is not.

Individual case descriptions without systematic comparison.

Controlled comparison without randomized allocation.

The source aggregates studies of several designs (typical of reviews).

Observational design without experimenter-controlled allocation.

Controlled experiment in a preclinical model rather than human participants.

Randomized allocation to intervention and control conditions.

The underlying design was not reported or has not been extracted.

The measured outcome decreased relative to the comparator.

The measured outcome increased relative to the comparator.

No measurable change in the outcome relative to the comparator.

The method's mechanism requires the individual to actively regulate their own state, typically toward a goal they perceive — for example meditation, volitional breathwork, neurofeedback, and biofeedback. The modulation is produced endogenously by the individual, which is the crux discussed in ADR 0035.

The individual actively follows an external pacing cue but does not regulate from their own internal feedback — for example following BSC's Martigli paced-breathing guidance or a movement cue. Between passive reception and self-regulation.

The method delivers to a receptive individual who is not required to act on their own state — for example binaural beats played to a resting listener, photic driving, or an anaesthetised recipient of ECT. A closed-loop automated system (such as sleep-phase-locked auditory stimulation) is still passive when the individual does not self-regulate.

Delivery moved to a different engine implementation mid-session, for example because a required capability was unavailable. Material to reproducibility: the stimulus after the fallback was generated by different code.

A report was collected at this point on the session timeline. Places the act of asking, which is separate from what was answered.

A delivery quantity was set to a new value part-way through the session, by the participant or by the protocol. Carries the parameter kind and the value it took, so a segmented stimulus is recoverable from the timeline rather than only from the specification.

Stimulus delivery stopped without ending the session. Elapsed time continues; delivered duration does not.

Stimulus delivery restarted after a pause.

Stimulus delivery began.

Stimulus delivery ended before the intended duration elapsed.

A delivery parameter was constrained by a safety limit, so the delivered value differs from the configured one. Without this event the record would describe a stimulus that was never delivered.

The session delivered its intended duration and closed normally.

The session closed without delivering its intended duration. Records that the execution ended early; it carries no judgement about why.

The session instance was opened and its clock origin captured. Always the first event, at offset zero.

Sound that the participant found uncomfortable, harsh, or too loud.

Light-headedness or unsteadiness the participant described.

Tired, aching, or effortful eyes reported around the session.

Common with free-viewing techniques that ask the eyes to hold an unusual convergence, and worth recording separately from general visual discomfort for that reason.

Pressure, heaviness, aching, or other sensation in the head that the participant described.

A downward shift in mood the participant described around the session.

Queasiness the participant described.

An unwanted experience that none of the listed categories describes.

Agitation or difficulty settling that the participant described.

Difficulty sleeping, or disturbed sleep, that the participant reported after a session.

Typically a follow-up rather than an immediate-post observation, which is why onset phase and report phase are recorded separately.

Light or visual pattern that the participant found uncomfortable, too bright, or unpleasant to look at.

The proposition asserts the absence of an effect within an explicit scope, backed by evidence that tested it.

The proposition asserts a relation, difference, or response within an explicit scope.

The proposition states that no eligible evidence was found within a documented search scope as of a date. Requires an evidence search record basis.

The proposition asserts that no evidence or mechanism exists at all. Never conformant: a finite search cannot support it. Present in the vocabulary so validation can name and reject it.

A named frequency interval, 30–42 Hz: the fastest conventional interval. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

30–42 Hz. The conventional ambit by which the gamma rhythm is delimited, truncated at 42 Hz for delivery reasons rather than physiological ones; the rhythm itself is sstim-v:gammaOscillation.

A single-frequency target, 40 Hz exactly: a single frequency inside gamma. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

The specific 40 Hz target associated with the GENUS/Iaccarino neuroimmune research lineage (emerging, preclinical and early human multisensory). Distinct from general gamma: evidence base, modality cautions, and claim language are different. Do not generalize all gamma designs as neuroprotection-oriented.

The fastest of the named rhythms, delimited conventionally from roughly 30 Hz upward; its upper bound varies by convention and by recording method, and SSTIM's gamma ambit stops at 42 Hz for delivery reasons rather than physiological ones.

"Rhythm", "wave" and "oscillation" name this same entity interchangeably, but they are near-synonyms rather than exact ones and are not substitutable in general: an oscillation is the rhythmic fluctuation itself; a wave is how it appears in a recorded signal, a word EEG also uses for deflections that are not oscillatory at all such as a P300 wave or a K-complex; and a rhythm is an oscillation regular enough to be named and tied to a state or generator, which a transient oscillatory burst is not.

Wellness goals with comparatively stronger evidence and conservative design. Guided breathing often appropriate. Warm, lower-complexity character.

Experiential, playful, intense, or recreational sonic worlds. High personality, diverse design, bloom intentional. No medical implication.

Cognitive performance, focus, work, creativity. Background (minimal, no breathing) and Active (engaging, breathing may apply) sub-types.

Meaningful user needs where evidence is promising but limited, mixed, indirect, or modality-mismatched. Explicit limitation statements required in techDesc.

Meditation, contemplative, altered-state, and perceptual exploration. May progressively reduce grounding. Claims remain conservative.

A named frequency interval, 10–13 Hz: the upper half of alpha. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

10–13 Hz. Upper portion of the alpha band.

A named frequency interval, 25–30 Hz: the upper third of beta. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

25–30 Hz. Upper portion of the beta band.

A named frequency interval, 2–4 Hz: the upper half of delta. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

2–4 Hz. Upper portion of the delta band.

A named frequency interval, 6–8 Hz: the upper half of theta. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

6–8 Hz. Upper portion of the theta band.

Determined independent under a named policy, with recorded conflict disclosure.

Determined not independent under a named policy, with recorded conflict disclosure.

No independence determination has been made.

A named frequency interval, 8–10 Hz: the lower half of alpha. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

8–10 Hz. Lower portion of the alpha band.

A named frequency interval, 15–20 Hz: the lower third of beta. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

15–20 Hz. Lower portion of the beta band.

A named frequency interval, 0.5–2 Hz: the lower half of delta. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

0.5–2 Hz. Lower portion of the delta band.

A named frequency interval, 4–6 Hz: the lower half of theta. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

4–6 Hz. Lower portion of the theta band.

Proposed mechanism in which structured, low-demand sensory content serves as an attentional reference. Whether it changes mind-wandering or task focus is protocol- and context-dependent and must be represented by a separate evidence claim.

Synchronization of movement timing and motor-cortical activity to an external auditory beat (beat-based timing, sensorimotor synchronization). Primary proposed mechanism for rhythmic auditory cueing of gait and cadence.

Proposed mechanism category for paced-breathing protocols that coordinate respiratory timing with respiratory sinus arrhythmia, heart-rate variability, and baroreflex dynamics. Used for Martigli breathing oscillation; protocol-specific effects require separate evidence claims.

Delivery of a stimulus time-locked to a measured phase of an ongoing endogenous oscillation (e.g. sound bursts at the up-phase of sleep slow oscillations) to reinforce that rhythm. Requires real-time sensing; the basis of closed-loop auditory stimulation.

Proposed mechanism category derived from GENUS research in which specific 40 Hz stimulation protocols were associated with microglial and amyloid-related changes in particular mouse models. Human relevance, protocol transfer, and modality generalization remain uncertain and require claim-level evidence.

Reduction of the perceptual salience of a target sound (or tinnitus percept) by overlapping or spectrally shaped sound, and reshaping of tonotopic activity via lateral inhibition. Proposed basis for masking and notched-sound approaches.

Activation of skin and deep-tissue mechanoreceptors (e.g. Pacinian corpuscles) by low-frequency vibration delivered through body transducers. Couples a somatosensory pathway alongside any auditory percept; primary mechanism for vibroacoustic stimulation.

Convergence and mutual enhancement of temporally congruent inputs across modalities (e.g. light and sound pulsed at the same rate), which can yield a larger or more reliable response than any single modality. Proposed basis for audiovisual and audio-tactile entrainment; the GENUS multisensory-over-unisensory finding rests on it. Contested in magnitude and modality-specific.

Threshold-dynamics mechanism in which an appropriately calibrated noise level can change detection of an otherwise subthreshold signal. It is not entrainment and requires no periodic forcing; any improvement claim is condition- and evidence-specific.

Proposed propagation of frequency-following response from subcortical centers to cortical oscillatory networks via thalamocortical loops. More contested than subcortical FFR.

A family of explicitly proposed, evidence-qualified pathways by which focused ultrasound may modulate neural activity, spanning candidate acoustic-radiation-force, membrane, and mechanosensitive-ion-channel accounts.

No candidate pathway is treated as universally established, and this mechanism term never decides sensory typing. Absence of an audible percept is deliberately not part of the definition: auditory confounds in human transcranial-ultrasound protocols are a real, protocol-dependent evidence question, recorded through exposure channels and outcome concepts rather than by definition.

The signal modulates the amplitude of a carrier. The isochronic case: a 10 Hz signal on an audible tone.

Two carriers differing by the signal frequency are presented dichotically. The signal is absent from each ear and constructed by the auditory system, so this mechanism is perceptual rather than physical.

The signal is presented as itself, with no carrier — a light flickering at the signal rate, or a vibration at it.

The signal modulates the frequency of a carrier.

Two carriers differing by the signal frequency are summed acoustically before delivery, so the signal is physically present in the combined waveform.

A named frequency interval, 20–25 Hz: the middle third of beta. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

20–25 Hz. Middle portion of the beta band.

Evidence from auditory-only stimulation. Applies directly to BSC presets.

Evidence from combined audiovisual stimulation. Applies to BSC with one tier discount for auditory-only claims.

The auditory sensory modality: perception of sound via the ear and auditory pathway. The primary BSC delivery channel.

Evidence from paced breathing / HRV biofeedback. Applies directly to Martigli breathing guidance component.

Evidence from mixed or unspecified modalities. Must state indirectness in techDesc.

The sense of the body's internal state — breath, heartbeat, gut, temperature, effort. Distinguished from somatosensory perception, which reports the body's surface and position rather than its interior.

Delivered indirectly via paced breathing guidance that engages respiratory and cardiac interoception.

Evidence from combined multisensory stimulation (e.g. GENUS audiovisual, audio-tactile). Modality-specific results do not transfer directly to any single channel; apply a tier discount for single-modality claims.

The chemical sense responding to airborne volatile compounds. Distinguished from gustatory perception, which responds to compounds in solution, though the two combine in flavour.

Requires dedicated hardware. Outside current BSC scope.

Evidence from animal or in-vitro studies. Maximum tier contribution: Tier 3 for human wellness claims.

Systematic review or meta-analysis. Tag used alongside AUD/AV/BREATH/GENERAL to note the evidence synthesis level.

The somatosensory modality: body-perceived sensation including touch, pressure, vibration, and related cutaneous and deep-tissue sensation. In SSTIM this is the superordinate body-sense channel — the tactile percept is a sub-modality, the haptic actuator (e.g. the Web Vibration API) is the device-delivery path, and vibrotactile is the driving mechanism (P5.5 convention; ADR 0019).

BSC delivers somatosensory stimulation through the haptic actuator path (Web Vibration API on Android; unavailable on iOS Safari). Device capability, perceived modality, and mechanism are modeled separately in the exposure module (ADR 0010).

Evidence from tactile / vibrotactile stimulation (e.g. vibrotactile pulse, SSSEP, vibroacoustic). Applies directly to tactile techniques; one tier discount for auditory-only claims.

Evidence from visual-only stimulation (e.g. photic/flicker driving, SSVEP). Applies directly to visual techniques; one tier discount for auditory-only claims.

The sense of head orientation, linear acceleration and rotation, arising in the inner ear. Distinguished from proprioception, which reports limb and body position rather than motion of the head in space.

Requires dedicated hardware (e.g. galvanic vestibular stimulation). Outside current BSC scope.

The visual sensory modality: perception of light, color, and motion via the eye and visual pathway.

Findings produced by simulation or computational modeling.

Findings produced with human participants.

Findings produced in vitro.

The source aggregates findings across several models or stages.

Findings produced in a non-human animal model. Replaces the modality-tag misuse of PRECLINICAL as a modality.

The model or stage was not reported or has not been extracted.

The explicit declaration that the reviewer declared no conflict of interest. Case-specific disclosures are separate ConflictDisclosure records.

The experience was already present before delivery began.

Worth recording rather than discarding: an experience present beforehand is the clearest case in which the session cannot be its origin.

The experience began while delivery was in progress; an onset offset locates it on the session's timing context where the participant could place it.

The experience began shortly after delivery ended.

The experience began later on the day of the session.

The experience began on the day after the session.

When the experience began is not recoverable from the record.

The intensity of the stimulus in its own units.

The frequency of the signal that bears the modulation, in hertz — the tone a beat is built on rather than the rate of the beat itself.

The fraction of each modulation period during which the channel is presented rather than silent or dark, between zero and one.

The frequency of a carrier or tone the signal drives.

How strongly the channel is presented: sound amplitude, display luminance, or vibration intensity, as a fraction of the channel's own full scale.

The brightness of a visual stimulus.

The rate at which something about the channel varies, in hertz: a flicker rate, a beat frequency, or a pulse rate.

Where this channel's modulation sits relative to another's, as a fraction of a cycle between zero and one.

The extent of a visual stimulus, as used by an expanding and contracting breathing guide.

Where the stimulus appears in space. A signal rendered onto this parameter is what the BSC catalog encoded as a Martigli-synced panning mode.

The strength of a haptic stimulus.

No permutation. Pure repetition. Lowest cognitive engagement; habituation risk for long sessions.

Alternating reversal — ascending and descending passes alternate with period 2 cycles.

Cyclic right shift. Systematic downward pitch drift over N cycles.

Cyclic left shift at each cycle boundary. Systematic upward pitch drift over N cycles.

Uniform random permutation (Fisher-Yates) at each cycle boundary. Maximum cross-cycle unpredictability. Highest cognitive engagement.

The experience had not passed when the participant reported it.

The experience passed before delivery ended.

The experience passed after the day of the session.

The experience passed on the day of the session.

How long the experience lasted is not recoverable from the record.

The startle reflex elicited by a sudden intense acoustic stimulus.

A steady-state neural response frequency-tagged to a periodic auditory stimulus.

Change in autonomic neural regulation.

Change in functional connectivity or in plasticity.

A neural response evoked or driven by an applied stimulus.

These are response forms, not causal mechanisms. They replace the mechanism-scheme entries deprecated in 0.9.0: a measurable evoked response describes what happens, while how it arises remains a separate mechanism and evidence question.

Change in neuronal excitability or firing.

A neural response that follows the periodicity of an applied stimulus.

Change in neurochemical or neurotransmitter signaling.

Change in the amplitude, frequency, or phase of neural oscillations.

A reflex response elicited by an applied stimulus.

A steady-state neural response frequency-tagged to a periodic somatosensory stimulus.

Change in synaptic transmission.

Change in the temporal alignment or coordination of neural activity.

A steady-state neural response frequency-tagged to a periodic visual stimulus.

The signal does not exist in what reaches the subject and is constructed by the nervous system — a binaural beat being the standard case. Evidence about a physically present signal does not transfer to this without argument.

The signal exists as a real modulation in what reaches the subject, and could be measured at the point of delivery.

The participant chose not to say whether they thought the session was involved.

The participant was unsure whether the session was involved.

The participant thought the session was involved.

The participant's view is not recoverable from the record.

The participant thought the session was not involved.

Self-report collected while stimulus delivery is in progress. Its placement on the session's own timing context is what makes it interpretable, since a wall-clock timestamp cannot say how far into the session it was given.

Self-report collected after a declared delay from session completion; the timestamp is required to make the delay interpretable.

Self-report collected shortly after stimulus delivery ends.

Self-report collected before stimulus delivery begins, usable as a within-session baseline without implying causation.

Re-execution produces the same target frequencies, arc, layer architecture and duration, without any claim about the rendered signal. The honest default for a browser audio pipeline.

Re-execution produces the same generated signal within a declared numerical tolerance, allowing for floating-point differences between implementations.

Re-execution produces sample-identical output. Requires a deterministic offline render and a pinned engine build; it is not satisfied by a live audio pipeline.

The experience lessened without passing entirely.

The experience passed completely.

The experience stayed as it was.

What became of the experience is not recoverable from the record.

The experience became stronger or more troublesome.

The participant was asked and chose not to answer. Declining is always available and is never treated as a missing value to be imputed.

The participant was asked and reported nothing to record. A positive finding of absence, not a gap.

The question does not apply to this session, as when a session ended too early for an item about how it went.

The instrument did not put this question, so nothing about the participant follows from the absence.

The participant gave an answer, which is recorded as this observation's value.

Whether the question was put, or what was answered, is not recoverable from the record.

The review confirms the assessment revision under the named rubric.

Derived workflow summary (ADR 0027): the prior review decision was invalidated, or an explicit re-review trigger exists without a replacement decision.

Derived workflow summary (ADR 0027): no current review decision exists under the named rubric. Not authoritative data; derived from EvidenceReviewDecision records in the 0.7 compatibility view only.

The review rejects the assessment revision under the named rubric.

The review requests a new assessment revision.

Derived workflow summary (ADR 0027): a current recorded review decision exists, regardless of its outcome or independence. Independence is a property of the review activity, never implied by this value.

The reviewer is external to the authoring organization. Never implies independence by itself.

The reviewer belongs to the same organization as the assessed work's authors.

The reviewer is the author of the assessed work.

The reviewer's relationship to the assessed work is not established.

How the participant described their attention at the report's collection phase.

Whether the participant judged that the session did what they wanted from it.

How much the participant felt the session helped with what they wanted from it, on a declared scale.

A magnitude, unlike the yes/no goal-achieved item, and about the participant's own stated goal rather than the session's designed effect.

How the participant felt at the report's collection phase, on a declared scale.

How alert or drowsy the participant felt at the report's collection phase.

What the participant said they wanted from the session, in their own words.

How the participant rated the session itself.

The act of asking whether the participant had any unwanted experience, carrying its own response state and linking to whatever they described.

Modelling the asking as an observation is what keeps 'asked, none reported' distinct from 'never asked' and from 'declined to answer'. An empty list of experiences cannot express that difference.

Engagement of a neural target by a chemical or pharmacological agent acting on neural tissue.

Engagement of a neural target without canonical sensory receptor transduction.

Asserting this route positively identifies such a route; it does not prove the technique is non-sensory, because a hybrid may also declare an intended sensory route.

Engagement of a neural target through canonical sensory receptor transduction and afferent processing.

Within the neuromodulation population this is not a redundant value: it is the fact that distinguishes the sensory-route overlap from approaches that bypass canonical sensory transduction. Conscious perception is not required.

Engagement of a neural target through an intermediate physiological process that is not canonical sensory transduction, such as a vascular, endocrine, or muscular pathway.

Direct physical interaction with neural tissue by an applied electric current or field, magnetic field, acoustic energy, or comparable physical means.

Both an intended cortical tACS interaction and a competing peripheral-nerve explanation use this broad route; they are separated by the intended target site versus the evaluated outcome target site, not by inventing two routes.

This scope axis does not apply to the proposition.

The sources did not report a value for this scope axis.

The value of this scope axis is unknown.

The participant described the experience but chose not to rate its severity.

The participant described the experience as slight or easily tolerated.

The participant described the experience as noticeable and bothersome.

The participant described the experience as strong or hard to tolerate.

No severity is recoverable from the record.

A non-repeating contour over time, such as a period ramping from one value to another across a session. Shape and repetition are independent: an envelope may modulate a periodic signal.

A stochastic signal occupying a frequency extent rather than a point. White noise spans the whole audible range and band-limited noise a named interval; both are this shape with different bounds.

The clearest case for the interval model: noise cannot be described by a single frequency number, so a signal states a lower and an upper bound and relates to a band by containment or overlap rather than membership.

A signal whose form is a recording rather than a function — a violin note, a voice, rainfall. Carries a source asset, without which the signal is not reproducible.

The one shape that is an asset rather than a function, which is why it needs provenance and a checksum where a sine needs neither.

A periodic shape rising linearly and resetting sharply, or its mirror image.

A single-frequency sinusoid. The default periodic shape, and the only one the BSC catalog ever used.

A periodic shape alternating between two levels with a duty cycle. Its harmonic content makes it audibly and visually harsher than a sinusoid at the same rate.

A periodic shape rising and falling linearly, with weaker harmonics than a square at the same rate.

A named frequency interval, 12–15 Hz: the sensorimotor interval, overlapping both alpha and beta. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

12–15 Hz. The conventional ambit by which the sensorimotor rhythm is delimited; the rhythm itself is sstim-v:smrOscillation.

A central rhythm delimited conventionally at roughly 12-15 Hz, overlapping the alpha and beta ambits and distinguished from them by its sensorimotor topography and its reactivity to movement rather than by frequency.

"Rhythm", "wave" and "oscillation" name this same entity interchangeably, but they are near-synonyms rather than exact ones and are not substitutable in general: an oscillation is the rhythmic fluctuation itself; a wave is how it appears in a recorded signal, a word EEG also uses for deflections that are not oscillatory at all such as a P300 wave or a K-complex; and a rhythm is an oscillation regular enough to be named and tied to a state or generator, which a transient oscillatory burst is not.

A survey of the literature without a documented systematic protocol or quantitative synthesis.

A quantitative synthesis of results across studies.

A review without a systematic search and selection protocol.

An original empirical study, not a synthesis of other studies.

A review with a documented systematic search, selection, and appraisal protocol. Matches the narrower meaning the legacy REVIEW tag claimed.

An instructional source synthesizing established methods and findings.

The auditory neural system as a distributed target.

The autonomic nervous system as a distributed target.

The gustatory neural system as a distributed target.

The interoceptive neural system as a distributed target.

The motor nervous system as a distributed target.

The olfactory neural system as a distributed target.

The proprioceptive neural system as a distributed target.

The sensory nervous system as a distributed target.

The somatosensory neural system as a distributed target.

The vestibular neural system as a distributed target.

The visual neural system as a distributed target.

The brain as a broad stimulation target.

The brain and spinal cord as a broad stimulation target.

Cortical tissue as a stimulation target.

A cranial nerve as a stimulation target.

Kept as a separate seed category rather than a blanket child of the peripheral nervous system, because cranial-nerve anatomy is not uniformly peripheral.

A subcortical or deep brain structure as a stimulation target.

A peripheral nerve as a stimulation target.

Neural tissue outside the brain and spinal cord as a broad stimulation target.

The spinal cord as a stimulation target.

Whisper-like textures, close foley, brushing, and tapping sounds intended to evoke an autonomous sensory meridian response.

High affective value, low scientific precision; suited to experiential rather than clean-entrainment contexts.

Intense, abrupt sounds (with or without a prepulse) used to elicit and probe the acoustic startle reflex and sensorimotor gating.

A research/clinical assessment domain (e.g. prepulse inhibition), not a comfortable wellness experience.

A carrier tone or noise whose amplitude (loudness) is sinusoidally modulated at a target rate. The canonical stimulus for evoking auditory steady-state responses at the modulation frequency.

Well-established ASSR/entrainment stimulus; the modulation rate, not the carrier, sets the response frequency.

An auditory pulse train (isochronic, monaural, or binaural) and a vibrotactile pulse delivered in phase at the same target rate, so hearing and touch are driven together. Cross-modal: auditory and somatosensory steady-state responses plus multisensory integration.

A natural pairing for the BSC breathing/haptic pulse — the isOn breathing-reference voice already drives both the visual breathing animation and the haptic pulse. The tactile channel is Android-only via the Web Vibration API.

Light and sound pulsed at the same target rate (the classic 'mind machine' / AVE configuration), so auditory and visual driving reinforce one another. Cross-modal: it engages auditory and visual steady-state responses together with multisensory integration.

Combines the auditory and visual flicker constraints; the visual channel is subject to photosensitivity limits. Reported effects on state and EEG are mixed across studies; frame conservatively. At 40 Hz this is the multisensory GENUS configuration.

Stimuli built around auditory illusions — Shepard tones, the missing fundamental, combination tones, binaural spatial illusions — used compositionally.

Mostly aesthetic/compositional; not evidence-bearing neuromodulation unless validated separately.

Two sine tones at slightly different frequencies presented dichotically (one per ear), producing a perceived beat at their difference frequency that arises centrally rather than in the air.

The most-studied consumer auditory-entrainment technique; effects on EEG and state are reported but mixed across studies.

A closed-loop practice in which a measured physiological signal (heart rate, heart-rate variability, respiration, muscle tension, or skin conductance) is rendered back to the individual as sensory feedback so that they can learn to self-regulate that function.

Self-directed neuromodulation (ADR 0036), marked by the active-self-regulatory engagement mode. Its neuromodulation status is clearest for autonomically mediated forms — heart-rate-variability biofeedback trains vagal and baroreflex regulation; peripheral forms such as EMG muscle biofeedback sit closer to motor self-regulation than to neural modulation, so the neural target is recorded broadly. Auditory biofeedback is the sonification case (sstim-v:techSonification); HRV/paced-breathing biofeedback connects to BSC's Martigli breathing component. Theo Marins (2026-07-22) placed biofeedback closer to neuromodulation than to neurostimulation, which ADR 0036 adopts.

White, pink, or brown noise presented as a continuous broadband stimulus; a vehicle for stochastic resonance and for masking.

Repeated short impulses (clicks, ticks, grains) presented at a target rate to drive steady-state responses.

Strong for probing entrainment, but clicks are perceptually salient and can become fatiguing relative to smoother stimuli.

Sounds delivered at a precise phase of a measured brain or sleep rhythm using EEG or sleep sensors, to reinforce that oscillation.

Strong conceptual fit for sleep slow-oscillation work; requires real-time sensing, so not a client-only lightweight feature.

A steady or slowly changing full-field colour — a coloured light wash or whole-screen field, e.g. a Ganzfeld — used as an ambient visual environment rather than as a periodic driver.

Aesthetic/ambient device; any calming effect is attentional and contextual. A steady (non-flickering) field is not entrainment.

Electrical stimulation delivered by surgically implanted intracranial electrodes to a deep brain structure with the objective of altering its activity.

A clinical neurosurgical method, catalogued so the ontology can describe the implanted-electrode route. It is emphatically outside any consumer or wellness context.

Brief electrical stimulation applied through scalp electrodes to deliberately induce a generalized seizure under anaesthesia, with the objective of altering brain activity.

A clinical psychiatric neuromodulation method, catalogued only so the ontology can describe the convulsive branch of established brain-stimulation therapy. Emphatically outside any consumer or wellness context and not deliverable by BSC Lab. The induced seizure is the deliberate mechanism, which separates it from stimulation applied merely to probe a response; efficacy and safety remain evidence questions this catalogue does not answer.

Rhythms with long-range (1/f) correlated variability rather than rigid periodicity, often used to evoke a more natural sense of timing in movement cueing.

Recent gait-cueing work distinguishes regular beats from fractal variability; less direct as brainwave entrainment.

A tone whose pitch sweeps over time — vibrato, chirps, adaptive glissandi. Spans both fast modulation (which can evoke frequency-following responses) and slow, breathing-rate modulation (which engages autonomic rather than entrainment pathways).

Typed as the generic technique because entrainment status depends on rate. Slow breathing-paced FM should be distinguished from non-breathing FM voices.

Auditory stimulation at 40 Hz — 40 Hz clicks, amplitude-modulated tones, or noise — delivered with the defining objective of modulating gamma-band neural oscillatory dynamics, associated with the GENUS research lineage.

The neural-modulation objective is definitional here, which is why this concept occupies the sensory-route neuromodulation overlap: it is both sensory stimulation and neuromodulation, entering through canonical auditory transduction. Membership asserts intent and route, never that modulation occurs. Human auditory-only evidence is limited; the stronger findings are preclinical and multisensory. Frame as gamma/auditory support or research-facing, never as a treatment for any condition.

Infusion of a neuromodulatory agent into the intrathecal space, targeted at an identified central nervous system site with the objective of altering its activity or function.

The populated chemical example, included because an empty route category would not demonstrate that the model works. It qualifies as neuromodulation only because the neuromodulatory objective and the identified neural target are definitional; ordinary systemic neuroactive pharmacotherapy does not qualify, since drug administration alone is insufficient.

A single tone switched on and off at evenly spaced intervals (a gated pulse train) at a target rate; a monaural, single-channel entrainment stimulus.

Two close-frequency tones summed in a single channel, producing a physically present amplitude beat at their difference frequency. Distinct from binaural beats, where the beat is a neural construct from dichotic presentation.

Entrainment to the higher-order structure of music — tempo, meter, groove, harmonic rhythm, and phrase cycles — rather than to a single modulation frequency.

High experiential value; less precise as EEG-band stimulation. Typically a musical layer around clearer entrainment voices.

A closed-loop practice in which a measured brain signal (typically EEG) is rendered back to the individual as sensory feedback so that they can learn to self-regulate that neural activity.

Self-directed neuromodulation (ADR 0036): a neuromodulation technique whose agency is the individual's own regulation, marked by the active-self-regulatory engagement mode. The feedback enters through canonical sensory transduction (its declared route) and is presented externally; the neural change itself is the intended effect, recorded on the outcome facet, not asserted as achieved here. Theo Marins (2026-07-22) placed neurofeedback closer to neuromodulation than to neurostimulation, which ADR 0036 adopts.

Music or noise with a spectral notch removed around a target frequency, or otherwise spectrally tailored for masking and residual inhibition; associated with tinnitus-oriented sound approaches.

Condition-specific (tinnitus); evidence is mixed and claims need care. Not a generic wellness soundscape.

Periodic visual flicker — a light source or whole-screen field switched or modulated at a target rate — used to drive occipital rhythms at the flicker frequency. The visual counterpart of isochronic/amplitude-modulated auditory entrainment; at alpha rates it can also evoke stroboscopic imagery (the 'flicker' / Dreamachine phenomenon).

Subject to photosensitivity exposure limits — model the flicker rate and the photosensitivity comfort boundary via the exposure module (sstim-ex:hasFlickerRateHz, sstim-ex:boundaryPhotosensitivity, ADR 0011). Avoid high-contrast full-field flicker around 15–25 Hz in unscreened users. At 40 Hz this is the GENUS visual-gamma case (preclinical-strongest, contested in humans), which additionally invokes sstim-v:mechGamma40.

Music or tones retuned so that a named reference note (commonly A4) is set to a non-standard frequency such as 432 Hz instead of the standard 440 Hz.

A property of the carrier / absolute pitch, orthogonal to any modulation or beat frequency — not brainwave entrainment. Parametrize a stimulus channel with sstim-ex:referencePitchNote / referencePitchHz / retunedFromReferenceHz / pitchShiftCents. Any effect claim must be modeled as music-listening / tuning-preference / psychoacoustic / expectation-mediated, with its own EvidenceAssessmentClaim kept disjoint from EntrainmentBasedTechnique and FrequencyBand evidence.

Repeated magnetic pulses applied by a coil over the scalp, inducing an electric field in underlying tissue, with the objective of altering cortical activity or excitability.

Typed as neuromodulation because the modulation objective is definitional for the repetitive protocol. A single-pulse probe used only to elicit and measure a response is stimulation without being neuromodulation, since measuring is not modulating. The induced electric field is an established physical transformation and belongs in the exposure or device description, not in a proposed mechanism; how that field produces a neural response remains an evidence question.

A metronome, drum, footstep, or music-based beat used to entrain movement timing and cadence (rhythmic auditory stimulation, RAS).

Well studied for gait, notably Parkinsonian gait; relevant to movement, walking, and rehabilitation-adjacent uses.

Intentional auditory roughness from closely spaced frequencies, deep amplitude modulation, or harmonic interference, used as a textural/affective device.

A perceptual/aesthetic device; can be activating, so it is generally avoided in calming, sleep, or overload-sensitive contexts.

Music or tones tuned to so-called 'Solfeggio frequencies' (e.g. 432 Hz, 528 Hz) or other arbitrary tunings claimed to carry special healing properties. A specific folk-claim case of reference-pitch retuning.

Mapping a physiological or behavioral signal (heart rate, HRV, breathing, motion, gait, attention state) into sound, so the listener hears and can regulate that state.

Requires sensors or user interaction; well suited to adaptive sessions and research.

Structured spatial trajectories of sound — HRTF motion, orbiting sources, lateral sweeps, dichotic streams, spatial alternation — rather than simple left/right crossfades.

Below-threshold or masked spoken messages (affirmations, suggestions) intended to influence behavior or mood without conscious perception.

An oscillating electric current applied through scalp electrodes with the objective of altering the amplitude, frequency, or phase of cortical oscillations.

The direct non-sensory analogue of sensory entrainment: periodic, and targeting oscillatory dynamics. Its intended route is a physical cortical interaction, but reported effects can also arise through transcutaneous peripheral-nerve stimulation. That competing account is an evidence question, recorded on an outcome concept via sstim:outcomeNeuralTargetSite, and it never rewrites this declared intended route.

A weak constant electric current applied through scalp electrodes with the objective of altering cortical excitability.

Applied electric current is not by itself brain stimulation — peripheral, muscular, and cardiac applications share the medium and are separated here by route, approach, and target.

Application of spatially focused acoustic energy to an identified neural target with the objective of altering its activity or function.

Defined by its intended focused neural target, not by the categorical absence of an audible percept. Auditory or somatosensory co-stimulation and confounds are protocol-dependent and belong in exposure profiles and evidence records; they do not decide the technique's primary class. Requires dedicated hardware and is not consumer web/mobile feasible. Catalogued so the ontology can describe it, never because BSC Lab delivers it.

Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve, by an implanted device or through the skin at an accessible branch, with the objective of altering autonomic neural regulation.

Shows why route, approach, and target must stay independent: implanted and transcutaneous variants share a target and a route while differing in approach. Targeting a cranial nerve and the autonomic system says nothing about entering through a sensory system.

Low-frequency sound delivered through body transducers, chairs, beds, or wearables, so it is felt as well as heard.

Cross-modal: auditory plus tactile-mechanical. Studied in contexts such as fibromyalgia; best treated as its own (partly somatosensory) modality, not pure audio.

Rhythmic vibrotactile pulses delivered to the skin (wrist, fingertips, torso, or a wearable) at a target rate to drive somatosensory cortical rhythms. The tactile counterpart of isochronic auditory entrainment; deliverable on consumer hardware via the Web Vibration API.

Distinct from vibroacoustic stimulation: here the pulse rate — not low-frequency audio energy — is the driver, and the percept is primarily tactile. Web Vibration API is Android-only; absent on iOS Safari (sstim-v:modalitySomatosensory scope note).

Semantic or phonetic vocal stimulation — guided audio, breath counting, mantra or chant repetition — which can also pace breathing.

Powerful experiential layer but semantically intrusive; many designs avoid voice by default to keep stimuli non-distracting.

A closed-loop stimulus whose temporal structure is adjusted in response to a measured signal. Outside current BSC delivery scope; reserved for future biofeedback-driven implementations.

A stimulus with no repeating period, e.g. calibrated noise for stochastic resonance or a shuffled Symmetry sequence.

An agent administered as a single discrete dose.

An agent administered continuously over time.

Applied continuously at a sustained level rather than as discrete events, such as a constant direct current.

Applied in separated episodes on a schedule rather than continuously.

A stimulus repeating at a fixed period, e.g. an isochronic pulse train or a steady binaural beat.

Discrete pulses delivered in trains or bursts.

Combinable with a carrier periodicity value: a pulse train may itself be periodic or irregular.

A stimulus that is nearly periodic but slowly modulated, e.g. a Martigli sweep whose breathing period decelerates over the session.

A single discrete application, such as one pulse.

A named frequency interval, 4–8 Hz: between delta and alpha. A conventional ambit rather than a natural boundary — the edges are agreed rather than observed, and differ between sources. It is a Hz range and nothing more; the rhythm delimited by it is a separate term (ADR 0049).

4–8 Hz. The conventional ambit by which the theta rhythm is delimited; the rhythm itself is sstim-v:thetaOscillation.

A cortical and hippocampal rhythm delimited conventionally at roughly 4-8 Hz.

"Rhythm", "wave" and "oscillation" name this same entity interchangeably, but they are near-synonyms rather than exact ones and are not substitutable in general: an oscillation is the rhythmic fluctuation itself; a wave is how it appears in a recorded signal, a word EEG also uses for deflections that are not oscillatory at all such as a P300 wave or a K-complex; and a rhythm is an oscillation regular enough to be named and tied to a state or generator, which a transient oscillatory burst is not.

Tier 2. Anecdotal reports and case series. No systematic data.

Tier 6. Systematic reviews/meta-analyses with high GRADE confidence; replicated across populations and laboratories.

Tier 4. Multiple studies with generally consistent results; some methodological limitations.

Tier 3. Small controlled studies with directionally consistent results but limited replication.

Tier 1. Theoretical basis only; no controlled human studies.

Tier 5. Multiple high-quality RCTs or meta-analyses with consistent results and adequate samples.

Offsets came from the clock of the audio device that rendered the stimulus, which is the same clock the stimulus was generated against.

Offsets came from a monotonic clock standing in for audio hardware, as in a silent or visual-only session. Ordering is sound; alignment to rendered audio is not claimed, because no audio was rendered.

Two dichotic sine tones producing a binaural beat at |fr - fl| Hz.

Single tone with sinusoidal frequency oscillation following a decelerating breathing arc.

Binaural beat combined with Martigli oscillation. Constant beat frequency despite sweeping carriers.

Log-distributed pitch sequence with algebraic group permutation at each cycle. Includes isochronic special case (noctaves=0).