Development of a Multi-Mode Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulator with EEG Monitoring Capabilities

Objective To address the limitations of existing auricular vagus nerve stimulators, which have a single stimulation mode and are open-loop, a new type of auricular vagus nerve stimulator system was developed.

Methods Based on the programmable general-purpose stimulator chip ENS001 and the integrated analog front-end chip ADS1299, an auricular vagus nerve stimulator capable of multi-channel EEG signal acquisition, multiple stimulation waveforms, and multiple stimulation modes was designed and developed.

Results The auricular vagus nerve stimulator, upon receiving parameter configuration instructions from the host computer, can generate four-channel output stimulation pulses with three types of waveforms and four modes (with an amplitude resolution of 0.1 mA, a frequency resolution of 1 Hz, and a pulse width resolution of 100 µs). The stimulator meets the requirements for the acquisition of human bioelectric signals and is capable of accurately acquiring human EEG signals.

Conclusion The auricular vagus nerve stimulator is simple in structure, low in manufacturing cost, portable, and has a wide range of adjustable stimulation parameters, showing great potential for application.