u/dusq_sleep

Dear Founding Members,

Thank you for the patience over the last week. Every one of you sticking with us through this stretch means a lot.

Was waiting for every step to be locked in before saying anything.

As of today, all formalities on our end are complete. Kickstarter will be sending the backer survey out to every one of you on Monday or Tuesday. It comes directly from them, with a link to confirm your details.

The survey lets you pick your preferred adhesive type and your shipping date. For any travel plans, share your dates in the survey and we'll push your delivery accordingly.

Project 68 deliveries begin first. A few screenings are still open, and we're closing them out this week.

Once your survey is confirmed, we go ahead on our side.

Thank you again for standing with us.

-Dr. Sid

If you have been sitting on the fence, this is the last window.
Reservation pricing closes with the campaign.

Pledge now:

To everyone who has already backed us, thank you. Genuinely.
We will be reaching out in the coming weeks with the shipping survey, where you will confirm your address, choose your variant, and add anything extra. Keep an eye on the email tied to your Kickstarter account.
We will announce it here first so you know when it lands.

What happens next:
Your card gets charged automatically when the campaign ends.
If your first charge fails, Kickstarter will email you every 48 hours for 7 days with a "Fix payment" button. At the end of the 7 days, Kickstarter runs one final auto-retry.
Only you can resolve a failed payment, but we are here if you have questions.

If you need to update the card on your pledge, go to your pledge, click "Manage your pledge," then "Update payment method." 
This updates the card on your pledge directly. 
Updating card details only in your account settings will not update a live pledge.

Thank you for being with us

-Team DUSQ

Hello Everyone,

We are officially live, and we are truly overwhelmed by the support you have shown us in these first few minutes. Thank you.

A quick but important update from us:

Kickstarter is currently experiencing technical issues due to the volume of traffic. If you are seeing errors or slow loading, please place your order using a web browser, not the Kickstarter app. The web browser is working smoothly.

Our early bird tier has sold out.

Please do not worry. Your VIP pricing remains valid and will stay open. We will ensure every member who registered for early access receives DUSQ at the pricing you were promised.

Your VIP and VIP Plus prices are locked till the end of the campaign and following tiers are always going to be accessible :

→ Just for you: DUSQ VIP at $249 (save $150) ( Always open )

→ Just for you: DUSQ VIP Plus at $229 ( Always open )

If you face any issues while pledging, please comment below or message us directly. Our team is online and responding in real time.

Thank you again for being here with us

Team DUSQ

https://preview.redd.it/90gfj1fdwy2h1.jpg?width=3120&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e6b01014257c5a933112489c75afeac6e71b5373

Our Founder & CEO Dr. Siddhant Bhargava is going live on Zoom for AMA session.
If you have any questions regarding the sleep science, Vagus nerve stimulation, DUSQ device, the upcoming launch or join for a quick chat.

Sunday, May 24th  12 PM PT / 3 PM ET
If you've been following our journey, this is your chance to get answers directly from the person building it. Bring your hardest questions.

Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dwtxTX4gQXmL05iI0gZ7QQ

If you have any specific questions, drop in comments below.

Thank you to everyone who showed up for Sunday's AMA. The questions were sharp, honest, and a few of them made us think harder about how we explain DUSQ.

We've taken the most-asked ones covering the device, the science, the reservation, Project 68, and the condition-specific questions that keep coming up.

THE BASICS:

Q1: What does DUSQ actually do - in plain language?
DUSQ is a behind-the-ear wearable that tracks your nervous system through the night and corrects sleep disruptions in real time, using gentle vagal and vestibular nerve stimulation. Sleep is your body's recovery window. For that to happen, your nervous system has to shift out of sympathetic (fight-or-flight) and into parasympathetic (rest and recover). Modern life keeps most people stuck in sympathetic well past bedtime. You log eight hours and still wake up drained. Sleep trackers don't fix this. They measure duration, stages, and heart rate, then score you in the morning. DUSQ works differently. It catches disruptions as they happen and corrects them in real time, using the vagus nerve, your body's main parasympathetic pathway.

Q2: Is this just another sleep tracker?
No. Trackers observe. DUSQ regulates. A tracker tells you what happened to your sleep last night. It can't change what happens tonight. DUSQ operates in a closed loop. It tracks sleep disturbances via EDA (electrodermal activity), a direct measure of your nervous system's activation state. When it detects a disruption, it delivers gentle vagal and vestibular nerve stimulation to push you back into deeper sleep. No preset program. No morning report. A correction as it happens.

Q3: What's the difference between DUSQ and Pulsetto, Apollo, or other VNS devices? Pulsetto is neck-worn. Conductive gel, place it on the side of your neck, sit through a four to thirty-minute session. The neck is dense with muscle. A few millimeters off the spot and you're firing the sternocleidomastoid, not the vagus. Once the session ends, the device comes off. It isn't on you during sleep, which is when the body actually repairs.

Apollo Neuro is a different category.
Apollo doesn't stimulate the vagus nerve. It's a haptic device that delivers low-frequency vibrations to the wrist or ankle. The idea is that rhythmic calming touch reads as a safety signal to the brain. Reasonable hypothesis. The trade-off is dose: three or more hours a day, every day, for weeks. A long-term habit, not an active intervention.

DUSQ sits on the mastoid region behind the ear, while you sleep. The patch goes in the same spot every night. No sticky gel required. While it's on, the device reads you continuously- pulse, skin conductance, movement. What makes it different is what happens after you fall asleep. The device keeps reading and adjusts stimulation in real time to what your nervous system is actually doing. Apollo and Pulsetto run a fixed program. DUSQ runs a program that monitors you and adapts.

THE DEVICE:

Q4: How does it physically stay on during sleep?
DUSQ attaches via a medical grade adhesive patch engineered to fit precisely behind the ear on the mastoid junction. The patch stays on throughout the night and peels off easily in the morning. Adhesives are replaced nightly. Moreover- the DUSQ app includes a patch placement feature that guides you to the correct position when you first set it up.

Q5: How long does one patch last? What does it cost to replace them?
DUSQ Starter pack comes with a set of 12 patches. Each patch lasts one week. It comes with seven adhesive layers.
You peel and replace one layer each night. Seven nights, seven layers, one patch.
The starter pack includes 12 patches: a three-month supply.
Refill packs are available at $25 for three months.

Q6: What does the stimulation actually feel like? Is it like a TENS unit?
It's an electrical stimulation, but not the kind a TENS unit delivers. TENS units run at higher currents and target larger sensory nerves to mask pain. DUSQ runs at much lower frequencies, calibrated to specifically engage the vagal and vestibular nerves. You'll feel a light tingle behind the ear. Most users describe it as a faint buzz or soft tapping sensation.

→ Awake guided session: ~20% intensity (gentle but noticeable)

→ Asleep: 2-4% intensity in short bursts, only when your nervous system needs the correction. Low enough that it won't wake you.

That's the closed-loop part of DUSQ, it's not running the same program all night. It's adjusting the stimulation based on what your body is actually doing.

Q7: Does it work for side sleepers? Back sleepers?
The device is designed to stay in place across every sleep position, side included. We've tested it across all sleepers, and the adhesive patch holds through the night.

Q8: How to use just at night or during the day too?
DUSQ is worn from evening through to morning. It works across three stages:

1.Unwinding: Whenever you're ready to start winding down, DUSQ reads your nervous system and suggests the best time for a 20-minute stimulation session, usually 2 to 3 hours before your typical bedtime.

2.Sleep initiation: Right before bed, you start DUSQ's sleep mode. A 20-minute session runs at a preset intensity. Parameters can be adjusted to match how you're feeling that night.

3.Sleep maintenance: Once you're asleep, the device takes over autonomously. It monitors your autonomic signal and delivers low-intensity corrections only when it detects sympathetic surges or sleep disruptions.

In the morning, peel the patch off and place it back in the charging case. DUSQ also has a separate mode for afternoon naps, power naps, and daytime regulation as well.

Q9: Is there clinical evidence? How was it tested?
We recently completed our first clinical trial. Here's what we did and what we found, in plain language.
The setup:
212 people, split into two random groups. One group used DUSQ. The other used a device that looked and felt identical but delivered no real stimulation. Neither the participants nor the researchers knew who had which until the data was analysed. This is called a sham-controlled trial. It's the gold standard for ruling out placebo effects. The study ran 14 days. Each person used the device twice a day for 20 minutes. We measured them before and after using hospital-grade equipment. It was conducted at Vasundhara Hospital, Jodhpur, registered publicly with the Clinical Trials Registry of India (CTRI/2025/07/091925), and approved by an independent ethics committee before enrolment began.

What we measured:
Heart rate variability (HRV): a standard medical measure of how well your nervous system can shift between alert mode and recovery mode. Higher HRV means your body is better at downshifting. Measured with ECG. Brain wave activity: a 10-channel EEG, the same technology used in sleep labs. We looked at alpha and theta frequencies, which together signal a calmer, more drowsy cortical state.

What we found:
HRV went up 40.1% in the active group. The sham group barely moved (4.6%). Alpha brain waves went up 35.4%. Theta brain waves went up 44.6%. Both are the patterns the brain produces as it shifts from wakefulness toward sleep. A composite measure of sympathetic surge (the body being stuck in alert mode) dropped 36% in the active group, versus 5.2% in sham. Self-reported anxiety dropped 31.9% in the active group, versus 5.9% in sham.
No serious adverse events in either group.
Read DUSQ Clinical Study
Read DUSQ White Paper

Q10: Does it work with sleep apnea or if I use a CPAP? A: DUSQ isn't built for sleep apnea. Apnea is a mechanical issue, your airway collapsing or your brain not signalling the body to breathe. DUSQ works on something different, the nervous system staying stuck in stress mode overnight. If you're on a CPAP, stay on it. Talk to your sleep doctor before adding anything new. DUSQ might sit alongside it as a complement, but it isn't a replacement.

Q11: Does it work for ADHD, neurodivergent users, or people with chronic nervous system dysregulation? A: The mechanism is relevant. DUSQ targets parasympathetic activation through vagal stimulation, the same nervous system shift that drives lower resting heart rate, deeper HRV, and overnight recovery. For someone whose autonomic baseline runs hot, including many people with ADHD and competitive athletes, tools that push the system toward parasympathetic dominance compound well. Honest disclosure: our clinical trial did not include neurodivergent participants. We don't have controlled data in ADHD, autism, or other neurodivergent populations specifically. What we do have is early-user feedback. Some of the strongest responses in early access have come from ADHD users, particularly around getting to sleep and being able to come down after a stimulating day. These reports are encouraging but anecdotal, not clinical evidence. DUSQ is not a treatment for ADHD, autism, or any neurological condition. It's a tool that supports parasympathetic recovery. If your nervous system runs hot, the mechanism aligns with the shift your body is trying to make. Individual response will vary.

THE COMMITMENT

Q12: What exactly does my reservation commit me to?
Two things happen with your reservation:
(1) You lock in a discounted launch price.
(2) You get early access to Kickstarter before it goes public.

VIP Launch price : $249 ( $399 )
VIP Plus Launch price : $229 ( $399 ).

A reservation is not an order. To actually buy DUSQ, you need to complete a pledge on the Kickstarter campaign when it goes live in June.
Being a DUSQ Community Member you get an early access to the campaign before it goes live on kickstarter Your reservation is fully refundable until launch.

Q13: What is the return policy once the device ships?
DUSQ has a standard return policy of 30 days from the date of receipt.

Q14: When does it ship? When is the Kickstarter launch?
The Kickstarter campaign goes live in June. Batch 1 ships in August 2026.
Backers will receive specific shipping windows in their pledge confirmation on the day Kickstarter goes live.

Q15: What is Project 68?
A focused 6-week study with users whose sleep scores have plateaued despite trying everything (perfect schedule, magnesium, breathwork, every sleep hack in the book). We'll track how DUSQ shifts their scores week over week, document it with full transparency, and publish the findings. As a founding member, you'll receive an invite once we kick off.

COMMON CONDITIONS:

Q16: Is it safe if I have an implanted medical device?
DUSQ has contraindication for pacemakers, implanted cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), deep brain stimulators, metallic implants, cochlear implants, and vagus nerve stimulator implants. It’s a standard caution for any external electrical stimulation device. If you have any active implant, don't use DUSQ without checking with the physician managing that device.

Q17: Can people with epilepsy or seizure disorders use it?
DUSQ is not approved as a treatment for seizure disorders, and we don't recommend its use in people with epilepsy or a history of seizures without medical supervision. Please consult your neurologist first.

Q18: What about EDS, ME/CFS, POTS, fibromyalgia, MCAS, long COVID?
These populations share a common thread: autonomic dysregulation, often with parasympathetic insufficiency. The mechanism DUSQ supports is directly relevant. We don't have condition-specific clinical data yet. A few considerations:

EDS: Skin fragility is a real concern with adhesive wear. If you have EDS, flag it during your Kickstarter pledge and we'll work with you on patch options.

POTS, ME/CFS, long COVID: Sympathetic overactivity and parasympathetic insufficiency are well-documented in this literature. The mechanism is aligned. Individual response varies. DUSQ is not a substitute for medical care for these conditions.