Development of a Device that Suppresses Painful Stimuli Using the Masking Effect of Phantom Sensation

Abstract

Currently, there is a growing interest in rehabilitation and health care in Japan. Against this background, treatment with electrical stimulation that improves ADL (activities of daily living) and QOL (quality of life) has been attracting attention. The home low-frequency treatment devices in use today are based on a combination of signals that relieve pain and signals that reduce the tingling sensation caused by low frequencies. However, the tingling sensation peculiar to low frequency remains. Therefore, in this study, we developed a device to increase the number of stimulus perception points using phantom sensation by electrical stimulation, to realize pseudo-multipoint stimulation with a small number of stimulus points, and to generate a masking effect to reduce unpleasant prickling sensation. In addition, the frequency, waveform, and amplitude that can be generated by existing methods are limited and the degree of freedom is low, so it is important to develop devices that can safely present electrical stimulation with a high degree of freedom. For electrical stimulation, pulse signals generated by the Arduino are boosted using an operational amplifier and a current mirror circuit to ensure sufficient current to flow to the human body, which has high impedance, and are applied from two electrodes. The placement of the electrodes and the intensity of the stimulation should be determined through prior experiments.