The hardware itself is a product of necessity and innovation. When the project began, the team explored existing commercial EEG systems but found them lacking. Most were either prohibitively expensive—costing anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000—or did not provide the high-quality signal required for medical-grade neurofeedback. Consequently, the UNSW team decided to build their own.
"Everything except the open-source EEG board was built in-house," Dr. Hesam-Shariati explained. The team utilized 3D printing technology to manufacture the headsets, which allowed them to iterate on the design rapidly and keep costs low. Currently, the team has managed to bring the cost of each headset down to approximately $300. They are also in the process of replacing the open-source components with a custom-designed circuit board to further optimize performance.
The headset utilizes a saline-based wet electrode system, which Professor Gustin notes is essential for maintaining a high-quality signal. These electrodes target the sensorimotor cortex, the area of the brain responsible for processing sensory input from the body. "We’ve worked closely with patients to ensure the headset is lightweight, comfortable, and user-friendly," she added.
The long-term vision for PainWaive is to provide a truly affordable and accessible solution for chronic pain management, particularly for populations that have traditionally faced barriers to care. This includes people living in rural or remote areas, as well as those whose physical disabilities make frequent travel to medical centers difficult or impossible. "Owning the technology offers us the potential to one day offer PainWaive as a truly affordable, accessible solution for at-home pain management, especially for those with limited access to traditional treatments," Professor Gustin said.
Building on the success of the initial four-person pilot, the researchers are now expanding their scope. They are currently calling for participants to register their interest in two new, larger clinical trials. The first, the Spinal Pain Trial, will investigate the technology’s potential to alleviate chronic spinal pain, a condition that affects millions of people worldwide. The second, the StoPain Trial, will focus specifically on chronic neuropathic pain in individuals who have suffered a spinal cord injury.
These upcoming trials will provide the robust data necessary to further validate PainWaive’s efficacy and move it closer to widespread clinical use. By focusing on larger groups and specific patient populations, the researchers hope to confirm that the neurological retraining offered by PainWaive can serve as a cornerstone of modern, drug-free pain management.
As the medical community continues to grapple with the complexities of the opioid crisis and the limitations of current pain medications, the development of technologies like PainWaive offers a promising alternative. By harnessing the brain’s own plasticity and its ability to learn and adapt, the UNSW team is opening a new frontier in the treatment of chronic pain—one where the patient is no longer a passive recipient of medication, but an active participant in their own neurological healing.
