BRAIN Buds & Background on aVNS

Several years ago we were contracted to design and engineer a non-invasive, safe, easy-to-use, and comfortable auricular vagus nerve stimulation (aVNS) device to optimize health and human performance for the US Department of Defense. The project B.R.A.I.N. (Bolstering Resilience, Adaptability and Intelligence with Neurotechnology) led to the development and manufacturing of our BRAIN Buds aVNS general wellness device intended to reduce stress.

Our BRAIN Buds system is a low-risk, non-invasive neuromodulation device designed to reduce stress for government, business, and enterprise customers.

Our taVNS Methods Featured in ESPN Films "Enhanced: Mind Gurus"

Our methods were featured in the ESPN Films docuseries "Enhanced" produced by Alex Gibney of Jigsaw Productions. Watch the Mind Gurus episode directed by Paul Taublieb of Taublieb Films to see a short story about our co-founder’s work on auricular vagal nerve stimulation (aVNS) for performance enhancement. The story begins 11min 40sec into the episode and describes the impact of taVNS on stress and human performance.

TRANSCUTANEOUS AURICULAR VNS LITERATURE

Mental Health Applications

A. M. Burger, W. Van der Does, J. F. Thayer, J. F. Brosschot, and B. Verkuil, "Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation reduces spontaneous but not induced negative thought intrusions in high worriers," (in eng), Biological Psychology, vol. 142, pp. 80-89, 03 2019 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.01.014.

"Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Private Healthcare Center: A Small-Scale Investigation Targeting Anxiety, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Chronic Pain." (accessed.

L. S. Colzato, S. M. Ritter, and L. Steenbergen, "Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) enhances divergent thinking," (in eng), Neuropsychologia, vol. 111, pp. 72-76, 03 2018 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.01.003.

L. S. Colzato, G. Wolters, and C. Peifer, "Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) modulates flow experience," (in eng), Experimental Brain Research, vol. 236, no. 1, pp. 253-257, 01 2018 2018, doi: 10.1007/s00221-017-5123-0.

A. Finisguerra, C. Crescentini, and C. Urgesi, "Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation Affects Implicit Spiritual Self-Representations," (in eng), Neuroscience, vol. 412, pp. 144-159, 08 01, 2019 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.05.059.

E. Hein et al., "Auricular transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in depressed patients: a randomized controlled pilot study.," (in eng), Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996), vol. 120, no. 5, pp. 821-827, 2013 May 2013, doi: 10.1007/s00702-012-0908-6.

J. Kong, J. Fang, J. Park, S. Li, and P. Rong, "Treating Depression with Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation: State of the Art and Future Perspectives," Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 9, 2018-2-05 2018, doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00020.

X.-J. Li et al., "The effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on treatment-resistant depression monitored by resting-state fMRI and MRS: The first case report.," (in eng), Brain stimulation, 2018 Nov 27 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2018.11.013.

J. Liu et al., "Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation modulates amygdala functional connectivity in patients with depression," (in eng), Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 205, pp. 319-326, Nov 15, 2016 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2016.08.003.

P. Rong et al., "Effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on major depressive disorder: A nonrandomized controlled pilot study," (in en), Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 195, pp. 172-179, May 1, 2016 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2016.02.031.

P.-J. Rong et al., "Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation for the treatment of depression: a study protocol for a double blinded randomized clinical trial," (in eng), BMC complementary and alternative medicine, vol. 12, p. 255, Dec 14, 2012 2012, doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-12-255.

C. Wu et al., "Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in treating major depressive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis," (in eng), Medicine, vol. 97, no. 52, p. e13845, Dec 2018 2018, doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000013845.

Insomnia and Sleep Disorders

H.-K. Yoon, "Therapeutic Application of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Primary Insomnia," (in English), Chronobiology in Medicine, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 51-54, 2019/6/30 2019, doi: 10.33069/cim.2019.0011.

B. Zhao et al., "The Instant Spontaneous Neuronal Activity Modulation of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Patients With Primary Insomnia," (in eng), Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 14, p. 205, 2020 2020, doi: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00205.

Luo. "Sleep electroencephalography power spectral response to transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on insomnia rats." (accessed.

M. Luo et al., "[Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation for primary insomnia and affective disorder:a report of 35 cases]," (in chi), Zhongguo Zhen Jiu = Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 269-273, Mar 12, 2017 2017, doi: 10.13703/j.0255-2930.2017.03.013.

J. J. Puizillout and A. S. Foutz, "Vago-aortic nerves stimulation and REM sleep: evidence for a REM-triggering and a REM-maintenance factor," (in eng), Brain Research, vol. 111, no. 1, pp. 181-184, Jul 23, 1976 1976, doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(76)91060-x.

J. J. Puizillout and A. S. Foutz, "Characteristics of the experimental reflex sleep induced by vago-aortic nerve stimulation," (in eng), Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 552-563, Apr 1977 1977, doi: 10.1016/0013-4694(77)90219-x.

Cognitive and HCI/BMI Applications

Tyler W.J. (2017) Multimodal Neural Interfaces for Augmenting Human Cognition. In: Schmorrow D., Fidopiastis C. (eds) Augmented Cognition. Enhancing Cognition and Behavior in Complex Human Environments. AC 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10285. Springer, Cham. pp 389 – 407.

H. I. L. Jacobs, J. M. Riphagen, C. M. Razat, S. Wiese, and A. T. Sack, "Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation boosts associative memory in older individuals," (in eng), Neurobiology of Aging, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 1860-1867, May 2015 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2015.02.023.

B. Bretherton, L. Atkinson, A. Murray, J. Clancy, S. Deuchars, and J. Deuchars, "Effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in individuals aged 55 years or above: potential benefits of daily stimulation," Aging (Albany NY), vol. 11, no. 14, pp. 4836-4857, 2019-7-30 2019, doi: 10.18632/aging.102074.

B. Bretherton, J. Deuchars, and S. A. Deuchars, "What impact could transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation have on an aging population?," Bioelectronics in Medicine, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 59-61, June 1, 2019 2019, doi: 10.2217/bem-2019-0022.

A. Broncel, R. Bocian, P. Klos-Wojtczak, K. Kulbat-Warycha, and J. Konopacki, "Vagal nerve stimulation as a promising tool in the improvement of cognitive disorders," (in eng), Brain Research Bulletin, vol. 155, pp. 37-47, Feb 2020 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2019.11.011.

R. Fischer, C. Ventura-Bort, A. Hamm, and M. Weymar, "Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) enhances conflict-triggered adjustment of cognitive control," (in eng), Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 680-693, 08 2018 2018, doi: 10.3758/s13415-018-0596-2.

L. Steenbergen, R. Sellaro, A.-K. Stock, B. Verkuil, C. Beste, and L. S. Colzato, "Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) enhances response selection during action cascading processes," (in en), European Neuropsychopharmacology, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 773-778, June 1, 2015 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2015.03.015.

taVNS Models and Mechanisms

E. Frangos, J. Ellrich, and B. R. Komisaruk, "Non-invasive Access to the Vagus Nerve Central Projections via Electrical Stimulation of the External Ear: fMRI Evidence in Humans.," (in eng), Brain stimulation, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 624-636, 2015 May-Jun 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2014.11.018.

J. A. Clancy, D. A. Mary, K. K. Witte, J. P. Greenwood, S. A. Deuchars, and J. Deuchars, "Non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation in healthy humans reduces sympathetic nerve  activity.," (in eng), Brain stimulation, vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 871-877, 2014 Nov-Dec 2014, doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2014.07.031.

B. W. Badran et al., "Neurophysiologic effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) via electrical stimulation of the tragus: A concurrent taVNS/fMRI study and review.," (in eng), Brain stimulation, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 492-500, 2018 May - Jun 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2017.12.009.

B. Mercante, F. Deriu, and C.-M. Rangon, "Auricular Neuromodulation: The Emerging Concept beyond the Stimulation of Vagus and Trigeminal Nerves.," (in eng), Medicines (Basel, Switzerland), vol. 5, no. 1, 2018 Jan 21 2018, doi: 10.3390/medicines5010010.

C. M. Warren et al., "The neuromodulatory and hormonal effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation as evidenced by salivary alpha amylase, salivary cortisol, pupil diameter, and the P3 event-related potential.," (in eng), Brain stimulation, 2018 Dec 14 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2018.12.224.

H. Yuan and S. D. Silberstein, "Vagus Nerve and Vagus Nerve Stimulation, a Comprehensive Review: Part II.," (in eng), Headache, vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 259-266, 2016 Feb 2016, doi: 10.1111/head.12650.

Y.-T. Yu et al., "Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in disorders of consciousness monitored by fMRI: The first case report.," (in eng), Brain stimulation, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 328-330, 2017 Mar - Apr 2017, doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2016.12.004.

Y. Zhang et al., "Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation at 1 Hz modulates locus coeruleus activity and resting state functional connectivity in patients with migraine: An fMRI study," (in en), NeuroImage: Clinical, vol. 24, p. 101971, January 1, 2019 2019, doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101971.

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