Wearable ultrasound and EEG patch for noninvasive REM sleep enhancement

Background

Sleep is essential for emotional regulation, cognitive function, and overall health. Chronic sleep disruption, prevalent among individuals with PTSD, shift workers, and military personnel, affects tens of millions and contributes to serious long-term health consequences. Despite growing awareness, most existing sleep aid technologies fail to address REM sleep, the stage crucial for emotional processing and memory consolidation.

Noninvasive neuromodulation techniques such as transcranial electrical or magnetic stimulation primarily enhance non-REM sleep and cannot accurately target deep brain structures responsible for REM regulation. Furthermore, current focused ultrasound systems are too bulky for overnight or ambulatory use, limiting their practical application for continuous sleep modulation.

Technology overview

This technology is a lightweight, wearable patch that enhances REM sleep through targeted, noninvasive stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus using focused ultrasound. It integrates a Concentric Ring Ultrasound Transducer Array (CRUTA) for precise energy delivery with high-fidelity ClearTrode EEG electrodes embedded on a soft, bioadhesive elastomer substrate. This configuration enables continuous, comfortable overnight use while capturing high-quality brain signals.

A closed-loop control system adjusts ultrasound stimulation in real time based on EEG feedback, allowing personalized modulation of REM sleep without disrupting sleep architecture or requiring surgical implants.