Article

Squaring the Circle in Neural Engineering: The Rectangular Waveform as a Historical Artefact and the Cost of Convenience

2026-05-06

Abstract excerpt

The rectangular (square) waveform universally used in neurostimulation and electrotherapy was adopted for reasons of technological convenience, not biological validation. We demonstrate that it constitutes a fundamental error of physical, mathematical, and neurophysiological nature, and propose a physiologically optimal alternative. Fourier spectral analysis shows that a 600 µs rectangular pulse at 50 Hz generates...

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Literature Corpus work: cf73cd2f-ed95-55d8-8f1a-54136751d3bb
DOI: 10.20944/preprints202603.0747.v3

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