I am currently participating in a study using tEAS (transcranial electrical and auditory stimulation) for tinnitus. Can‘t say much about if it works or not especially as the study was redesigned and will contain less treatment, so I‘m not too optimistic. (Background: 10y tinnitus without any known cause, was coping very will for the last 8y, had a terrible last 2y but I am starting to get over it again so in general I am hopeful about my future at least)

But as this is HN I wanted to share a technical detail: The device used for the stimulation is pretty new and, as all medical devices are, pricey. It is connected to a laptop through USB-C but not only for data, it‘s completely powered through it. Sounds neat, right. But what happens if either by accident or not knowing any better you unplug the cable? Then it dumps all the stored charge through the electrodes into whoever has them on their scalp at the moment. It‘s VERY uncomfortable and I am shocked (hahaha) that a device like this has such a failure mode and that this is even allowed.