Continuous ultrasound holograms for patterned neurostimulation

Ultrasound waves, widely used as a non-invasive diagnostic modality, can also be used to stimulate neuronal activity. Functionally meaningful stimulation, as is required in order to form a precept, requires the generation of stimulation patterns. Recently, we demonstrated the efficient and uniform simultaneous generation of sparse multifocal spatial distributions of acoustic intensities using computer generated holography algorithms adapted from the optics research field. Here we demonstrate the efficient generation of uniform and accurate continuous ultrasound patterns, an additional step towards the development of patterned acoustic interfaces and an ultrasonic retinal prosthesis.