that operates according to the electromagnetic principle in a way that is not shown in fig3 the acoustic wave generating unit 11 has a coil carrier a flat coil arranged thereon and a metallic membrane that is insulated from the flat coil for generating shockwaves the membrane u2014 as a result of electromagnetic interaction with the coil u2014 is repelled into an acoustic propagation medium 12 causing a source pressure wave to be transmitted into the acoustic propagation medium 12 the source pressure wave is focused onto a focus zone by an acoustic lens 13 causing the source pressure wave to intensify to a shockwave during its propagation in the acoustic propagation medium and after introduction into the body of a patient p in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig3 the shockwave serves the purpose of disintegrating a stone s in the kidney n of the patient p the therapy head 10 has an operating and supply unit 14 allocated to it that except for the flat coil includes the inventive circuit for generating acoustic waves that is shown in fig4 the operating and supply unit 14 is electrically connected to the acoustic wave generating unit 11 controlling the flat coil via a connecting line 15 shown in fig3 the circuit shown in fig4 for an electromagnetic shockwave source for generating acoustic waves has a constant voltage source 20 a switch 21 a.