About Our Studies

April 7, 2025

Nudge is conducting feasibility studies to evaluate whether focused ultrasound delivered to the deep brain can be safe and effective as a treatment for chronic pain and substance use disorder. Studies are open for enrollment, and we are continuously evaluating potential participants. If you are interested in participating in a study or want to learn more, please check out our active studies.

Our research builds on a growing body of scientific literature demonstrating the potential for low-intensity ultrasound to be safe and well-tolerated.1,2 Recent academic work has illustrated the capacity of focused ultrasound to modulate brain regions like the thalamus and the nucleus accumbens and suggests that the delivery of low intensity ultrasound to specific regions of the brain may help alleviate pain and craving.

The scientific community is investigating how ultrasound may impact a broad range of processes in the brain, from wakefulness and attention to learning and decision-making.3 We'll be recruiting healthy volunteers for future studies. If you're interested in participating or learning more — whether you have a medical condition our device may one day help treat, or you are simply interested in helping us learn more about the brain — please fill out the General Interest Form.

Your participation will contribute to ongoing research in the neuroscience of focused ultrasonic neuromodulation and provide valuable insight into the potential for applying our technology to a wide range of applications in medical and non-medical use.

Please note our current studies are intended to explore initial device feasibility and are not treatment studies.

References

  1. Riis et al. (2024). Noninvasive targeted modulation of pain circuits with focused ultrasonic waves. 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003322[back to text]
  2. Rezai et al. (2025). Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation: Exploring a Novel Treatment for Severe Opioid Use Disorder. doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2025.01.001[back to text]
  3. Yaakub et al. (2024). Non-invasive Ultrasound Deep Neuromodulation of the Human Nucleus Accumbens Increases Win-Stay Behaviour. doi.org/10.1101/2024.07.25.605068[back to text]