Effects of External Ear Stimulation on Pain Perception and Mood
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT02821741. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Background: The vagus nerve runs from the brain to many organs. Stimulating it can affect the experience of pain. The nerve can be stimulated on the surface of the left ear. Researchers want to study how this stimulation affects the perception of pain. They also want to study how mood affects the experience of pain. Objective: To study the effects of mood and vagus nerve stimulation on the experience of pain. Eligibility: Healthy people ages 18 and older who are fluent in English Design: Participants will be pre-screened with a 15-minute phone call. Participants will have three 2-hour visits. At the screening visit, participants will be screened with: Medical and psychiatric history Physical and psychological exams Questionnaires about physical and psychiatric health and mood Urine tests A heat probe on the forearm. The temperature will be increased until it is painful but tolerable. Participants will have 2 testing sessions within 7 days. Before the testing, they cannot do the following: Eat, use nicotine, or exercise for at least 2 hours Drink alcohol for 24 hours Take certain medicines for 3 days Testing includes: Urine drug screening Left ear stimulation: In one session, the vagus nerve will be stimulated. In the other, an area of the ear away from the vagus nerve will be stimulated. This will be done with mild electric shocks that cause a tingling, pricking, or itchy feeling. Heat applied to the forearm until it is painful but tolerable Completing several forms on a computer or on paper about how they are feeling Monitors on the chest and a finger clip to monitor heart, breathing, and blood pressure
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT02821741
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 76 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 50 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Oct 17, 2016
- Primary completion
- Mar 29, 2027
- Completion
- Mar 29, 2027
- Last update posted
- Aug 16, 2026
2016 – 2027
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Institutes of Health Clinical Center | Bethesda | Maryland | 20892 | Recruiting |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT02821741, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Aug 16, 2026 · Synced Sep 5, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT02821741 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.