Optometry & Visual Performance 148 Volume 14 | Issue 2 | June 2026 to improve how the brain processes and coordinates information from multiple sensory systems. For the first 12 days, she completed daily one-hour, in-clinic sessions that combined visual, vestibular (balance), auditory, and somatosensory inputs in a carefully sequenced manner to promote neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to reorganize and to form new connections (Figure 2).8,9 A central component of the program was syntonic optometric phototherapy, which uses specific wavelengths of colored light to influence visual processing and autonomic balance.10 The therapy followed a progression of light frequencies, beginning with magenta and advancing through red, ruby-red, blue, green, yellow, and violet based on the premise that different wavelengths can modulate retinal pathways and downstream neural activity. In addition to visual stimulation, vestibular input was incorporated through controlled body movements, alternating between side-to-side and head-to-toe directions, with daily changes in orientation. This type of stimulation is known to influence spatial orientation, postural control, and visual-vestibular integration, which are often disrupted in patients with neurological conditions.11 Auditory stimulation was also included, with music delivered asymmetrically, 100% volume to the right ear and 50% to the left, to encourage right ear dominance and preferential activation of the left hemisphere, which is typically associated with language processing.12 This binaural music was presented asymmetrically through headphones to encourage right-ear dominance and to stimulate left-hemispheric language and auditory processing centers. If the master volume was set at level 20, the right ear received the full intensity (volume level 20), while the left ear simultaneously received 50% reduced intensity (volume level 10). The auditory input remained comfortably soft and nonintrusive, comparable to low-level background or “elevator” music, allowing the patient easily to maintain normal conversational interaction with the clinician throughout therapy despite wearing headphones. These inputs were combined with somatosensory integration activities, engaging the tactile and proprioceptive systems to reinforce multisensory coordination further and to improve overall neural efficiency.13 Outside of the clinic, the patient continued therapy at home using a lightbox for syntonic phototherapy (Figure 3), completing two 20-minute sessions over the weekend followed by 18 additional days of daily magenta light exposure. This home-based Figure 2. Optometric multisensory table Figure 3. Syntonic phototherapy home unit
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