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Patent No. 6081744  Electric fringe field generator for manipulating nervous systems (Loos, Jun 27, 2000)

Abstract

Apparatus and method for manipulating the nervous system of a subject through afferent nerves, modulated by externally applied weak fluctuating electric fields, tuned to certain frequencies such as to excite a resonance in neural circuits. Depending on the frequency chosen, excitation of such resonances causes in a human subject relaxation, sleepiness, sexual excitement, or the slowing of certain cortical processes. The electric field used for stimulation of the subject is induced by a pair of field electrodes charged to opposite polarity and placed such that the subject is entirely outside the space between the field electrodes. Such configuration allows for very compact devices where the field electrodes and a battery-powered voltage generator are contained in a small casing, such as a powder box. The stimulation by the weak external electric field relies on frequency modulation of spontaneous spiking patterns of afferent nerves. The method and apparatus can be used by the general public as an aid to relaxation, sleep, or arousal, and clinically for the control and perhaps the treatment of tremors and seizures, and disorders of the autonomic nervous system, such as panic attacks.

Notes:

SUMMARY

Experiments have shown that weak electric fields of frequency near 1/2 Hz applied externally to the skin of a human subject can cause relaxation, doziness, ptosis of the eyelids, or sexual excitement, depending on the precise frequency used. In these experiments, the electric field was applied predominantly to skin areas away from the head. Apparently, the external electric field somehow influences somatosensory or visceral afferent nerves, which report the effect to the brain. Although the mechanism whereby the field acts on the afferents or their receptors is unknown, the effect must take the form of a slight modulation of spontaneous spiking patterns of nerves, because the polarization current densities induced by the field are much too small to cause firing of the nerve. If the applied field is periodic, so will be the modulation of the spiking patterns, and the brain is then exposed to an evoked periodic signal input. Apparently, this signal input excites certain resonant neural circuits, the state of which has observable consequences. Since the resonances are excited through somatosensory or visceral afferents, they are called "sensory resonances".

Besides the resonance near 1/2 Hz that affects the autonomic nervous system, we have also found a resonance near 2.4 Hz which slows certain cortical processes. For both resonances the electric field strength on the skin must lie in a certain limited range for the physiological effects to occur. This "effective intensity window" can be determined accurately for the 2.4 Hz resonance, by measuring the time needed to count silently backward from 100 to 60.

The external electric field used for stimulation is induced by a pair of field electrodes placed such that the subject is entirely outside the space between the field electrodes, thereby affording compact field electrode configurations and convenience of deployment. In fact, a pair of field electrodes can be contained together with the voltage generator in a single small casing, such as a powder box. Such a small device can be used conveniently by the general public as an aid to relaxation, sleep, or sexual excitement, and clinically for the control and perhaps a treatment of tremors and seizures, and disorders of the autonomic nervous system such as panic attacks.

Two or more pairs of field electrodes may be combined to advantage if the field outside the space between the electrodes is used as stimulant. Two pairs deployed close to the skin can be balanced such that the resulting field stands essentially only on the skin area directly apposed to field electrodes, the field over the rest of the body being negligible. In another configuration, m pairs of field electrodes can be combined in an assembly which features so called full compensation, where in the multipole expansion of the induced potential at large distances the contributions of the individual pairs to the first m-1 terms cancel each other. The electric field of the assembly is then asymptotically multipole of order 2m, so that the field falls off as the inverse 2m+1 th power of distance, thus featuring a short range and directional properties.

Such a multipole electrode with a fully compensated assembly of 4 field electrode pairs, driven by a small low-voltage generator powered by a standard 9 V battery, has been used effectively as a sleeping aid. The thin multipole electrode was placed under a mattress about 13 cm below the subject, such that the main emission lobe was roughly at lumbar height. With the same setup, a man can arrange for rather intense and prolonged sexual excitiment by assuming a position on the mattress such that the main emission lobe from the multipole electrode intersects his perinaeum.

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The method is expected to be effective also on certain animals, and applications to animal control are therefore envisioned. The nervous system of humans is similar to that of other mammals, so that sensory resonances are expected to exist in the latter, albeit with somewhat different frequencies. Accordingly, in the present invention, subjects generally are mammals.

The invention is not limited by the embodiments shown in the drawings and described in the specification, which are given by way of example and not of limitation, but only in accordance with the scope of the appended claims.