Study: Deep Brain Stimulation Possible With an Ultrasound ‘Helmet’

They’ve been used in the science fiction world to replay experiences, enter dreams, or better focus mortal skills, but now real-world researchers have developed a helmet with futuristic-sounding capabilities.

Researchers in Britain have developed an ultrasound device that can precisely stimulate areas deep within the brain without surgery, yielding new possibilities for neurological research and treatment of such disorders as Parkinson’s disease and depression. The breakthrough came from investigators with University College London (UCL) and the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences.

Scientists have long searched for a way to modulate brain function to help improve humankind’s understanding of the brain’s inner functioning and better treat neurological diseases using non-invasive methods that do not involve surgery.

One potentially helpful technology is transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), which can modulate the activity of neurons (the brain’s key communication cells) by delivering gentle mechanical pulses that influence the way these cells send signals.

But to date, current systems have struggled to reach deeper areas of the brain with sufficient precision to target specific brain structures. Conventional TUS systems often affect broader regions than intended, limiting their utility for targeted neuromodulation.

The British study, published in Nature Communications, introduces a new ultrasound device capable of influencing deep brain regions without surgery, targeting areas about 1,000 times smaller than conventional ultrasound devices can pinpoint and 30 times smaller than previous deep brain ultrasound devices.

The new technology features 256 elements configured within a special helmet to send focused ultrasound beams to specific parts of the brain to turn neuronal activity up or down. It also includes a soft plastic face mask that helps target the ultrasound waves more precisely by keeping the head still.

The research team demonstrated the system’s capabilities on seven human volunteers by targeting a part of the thalamus, a small structure in the brain’s center that helps relay sensory and motor information—called the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). The LGN is involved in processing visual information.

In the first experiment, participants looked at a flashing checkerboard, which sent signals to the brain through the eyes. During stimulation with the ultrasound device, a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan showed significantly increased activity in the participants’ visual cortex, confirming precise LGN targeting.

A second experiment revealed sustained decreases in visual cortex activity for at least 40 minutes after ultrasound stimulation, highlighting the system’s potential for inducing lasting changes in brain function.

Though participants did not consciously perceive any changes in what they were seeing during the experiments, the brain scans revealed significant and lasting changes in neural activity. The ultimate goal is to harness these effects to produce clinically beneficial outcomes, such as stopping hand tremors.

“This advance opens up opportunities for both neuroscience research and clinical treatment. For the first time, scientists can non-invasively study causal relationships in deep brain circuits that were previously only accessible through surgery,” said Professor Bradley Treeby, senior study author from UCL Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering. “Clinically, this new technology could transform treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders like Parkinson’s disease, depression, and essential tremor, offering unprecedented precision in targeting specific brain circuits that play key roles in these conditions. The ability to precisely modulate deep brain structures without surgery represents a paradigm shift in neuroscience, offering a safe, reversible, and repeatable method for both understanding brain function and developing targeted therapies.”

In addition to its research applications, the system could spawn new clinical interventions. Deep brain stimulation (DBS), currently used to treat conditions like Parkinson’s disease, requires invasive surgery and carries associated risks. Conversely, the new ultrasound system offers a non-invasive alternative with comparable precision, potentially allowing clinicians to test areas of the brain that could be used to treat disease before surgery or even replace surgical approaches altogether.

“This novel brain stimulation device represents a breakthrough in our ability to precisely target deep brain structures that were previously impossible to reach non-invasively,” stated Dr. Ioana Grigoras, a first study author from the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford. “We are particularly excited about its potential clinical applications for neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease, where deep brain regions are especially affected.”

Recognizing this clinical potential, several members of the research team have recently founded NeuroHarmonics, a UCL spinout company developing a portable, wearable version of the system. The company aims to make precise, non-invasive deep brain therapy accessible for both clinical treatment and broader therapeutic applications.

“We designed the system to be compatible with simultaneous fMRI, enabling us to monitor the effects of stimulation in real time. This opens up exciting possibilities for closed-loop neuromodulation and personalized therapies,” commented Dr. Eleanor Martin, first study author from UCL Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering.

While further studies are needed to fully understand the mechanisms underlying TUS-induced neuromodulation, the results mark a significant milestone in the development of safe, effective, and targeted brain stimulation technologies, according to the researchers.

The study was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Wellcome, and the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre.

The study is titled, “Ultrasound system for precise neuromodulation of human deep brain circuits.”