The next in wearables: Harnessing EEG for “the masses” to track and enhance mind fitness

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Is mind­ful­ness and less stress worth $299? The Muse makes a case (review) (Ven­ture Beat):

“The most inter­est­ing wear­able I’ve used yet isn’t a fit­ness track­er or a super­flu­ous smart­watch. It’s a con­nect­ed head­band that helps you focus your thoughts…

To put it sim­ply, the Muse brings elec­troen­cephalog­ra­phy (EEG) tech­nol­o­gy, which detects brain activ­i­ty, to the mass­es... There aren’t any stray wires and elec­trodes, just a sim­ple, clean curve, made up most­ly of a flex­i­ble, rub­ber­ized material…

…Once you use the Muse enough, it won’t be tough for you to carve out qui­et med­i­ta­tion ses­sions through­out the day with­out using the Muse at all. It’s sort of like train­ing wheels for mindfulness.

The biggest issue with the Muse so far is its price of $299, which puts it in the realm of expen­sive toys, rather than some­thing a typ­i­cal con­sumer may want to pick up. Giv­en the design and engi­neer­ing work that went into the Muse, I can under­stand why it’s so expen­sive. But it sure makes the device hard to recommend…

If any­thing, the Muse is a sign of what’s to come the world of wear­ables. It’s still tech­ni­cal­ly an activ­i­ty track­er, but it’s noth­ing like the fit­ness-track­ing gad­gets out there right now, which are main­ly focused on track­ing exter­nal things like the amount of steps you take. The Muse makes a clear case for activ­i­ty track­ers that look deep­er with­in our bodies.”

Learn more:

• Brain fit­ness meets HRV and EEG bio­met­rics and neuroinformatics
• Info­graphic on the Dig­i­tal Brain Health Mar­ket 2012–2020
• 2014 Sharp­Brains Vir­tual Sum­mit (Octo­ber 28–30th, 2014)