ArticlePeerJ2022
Ear your heart: transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on heart rate variability in healthy young participants.
Article in PeerJ, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation and exercise-induced autonomic regulation: a systematic review.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review of the effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on baroreflex sensitivity and heart rate variability in healthy subjects.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2023Pooled it
- The effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation on romantic couples' physiology and behavior during conflict.Anxiety, stress, and coping · 2026Trial
- The heart knows best: baseline heart rate variability as guide to transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in depression.Translational psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Effects of taVNS on physiological responses and cognitive performance during a mental stressor.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2025Trial
- Non-Invasive Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Decreases Heart Rate Variability Independent of Caloric Load.Psychophysiology · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation at Olfactory Bulb-Relevant Frequencies Modulates Human Olfactory Function.Psychophysiology · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation and emotional responding in borderline personality disorder: a randomized single-blind, sham-controlled study.Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation · 2026Article
- NTS Neural Subtypes and Satiety Pathways: taVNS as a Novel Neuromodulatory Intervention.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Combined with Physical Therapy for Individuals with Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Randomized Sham-Controlled Trial.Neurology international · 2026Article
- Brain-First vs. Body-First Models in Neurodegenerative Disease: A Perspective Review.NeuroSci · 2026Review
- A Review of Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Disease: Comprehensive Theory and Evidence for Mechanisms of Action.Comprehensive physiology · 2026Review
- No significant modulation of pressure pain sensitivity and cardioception after transauricular vagal nerve stimulation.Pain reports · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in breast cancer: a neuroimmune model to improve quality of life.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Modulating autonomic nervous system activity with transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in Parkinson's disease: a proof of concept study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation: mechanisms, applications, and research progress.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Heart Rate Variability, Microvascular Dysfunction, and Inflammation: Exploring the Potential of taVNS in Managing Heart Failure in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- Article
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation inhibits mental stress-induced cortisol release-Potential implications for inflammatory conditions.Physiological reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) stimulating the auricular branch of the vagus nerve along a well-defined neuroanatomical pathway, has promising therapeutic efficacy. Potentially, taVNS can modulate autonomic responses. Specifically, taVNS can induce more consistent parasympathetic activation and may lead to increased heart rate variability (HRV). However, the effects of taVNS on HRV remain inconclusive. Here, we investigated changes in HRV due to brief alteration periods of parasympathetic-vagal cardiac activity produced by taVNS on the cymba as opposed to control administration Materials and Methods: We compared the effect of 10 min of active stimulation ( Results: Although active-taVNS and sham-taVNS stimulation did not differ in subjective intensity ratings, the active stimulation of the cymba led to vagally mediated HRV increases in both the time and frequency domains. Differences were significant between active-taVNS and both sham-taVNS and resting conditions in the absence of stimulation for various HRV parameters, but not for the low-frequency index of HRV, where no differences were found between active-taVNS and sham-taVNS conditions. Conclusion: This work supports the hypothesis that taVNS reliably induces a rapid increase in HRV parameters when auricular stimulation is used to recruit fibers in the cymba compared to stimulation at another site. The results suggest that HRV can be used as a physiological indicator of autonomic tone in taVNS for research and potential therapeutic applications, in line with the established effects of invasive VNS. Knowledge of the physiological effect of taVNS short sessions in modulating cardiovagal processing is essential for enhancing its clinical use.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.