Muse is a wearable with a really noble purpose

Oct 29, 2014 09:29 GMT  ·  By

Stress is a modern urban disease. Sure, our ancestors must have felt the stress of not being able to cope with the environment or of not making it to the next day, but the stress we experience today is of a different nature, as it has a societal impact.

We’re pressured to perform, to hold on to deadlines, to give our best every single day. There’s no time for relaxation or taking a step back to look at the bigger picture, you just have to keep going if you want to “survive” in the urban jungle.

That’s why in today’s world, panic attacks, anxiety and stress disorders are as common as the flu. However, we often tend to dismiss important aspects about mental and emotional health, shrugging them off, hoping they will go away, but it’s never that simple.

Muse will help you relax

Taking the aspects we have outlined above into consideration, a start-up has come up with the idea for a wearable headband called the Muse that wants to make you feel better.

The device looks like a Google Glass substitute for your head, which is supposed to detect and monitor your brain signals during a focused-attention exercise.

The band will then proceed to give you feedback that can be used to train your brain to improve focus, attention and composure, and ultimately, feel better overall.

The Muse works by employing a total of 7 calibrated sensors (2 on the forehead, 2 behind the ears, plus 2 noise canceling sensors and a reference sensor) to detect your brain activity.

The information is then translated into feedback that gets displayed on your tablet or smartphone display, allowing you to visualize your actual mental state.

Muse works in concert with the Calm app, which has been designed to deliver the necessary feedback for relaxation and training.

The system activating inside Muse is based on the principles of EEG (electroencephalography), which is used to measure electric activity in the brain but also by medical science.

Individual neurons in the brain usually communicate by sending small electrical signals to each other, but these are too weak to be picked up by an EEG device.

However, when multiple neurons fire at the same time, the Muse is able to pick up the frequency and interpret it. When multiple neurons are firing all at once, it means that the stimulus is a very powerful one.

Muse puts you in a safe place

To give you an example of what you can expect Muse to do, imagine being at the beach while a calm voice in the background is telling you to concentrate on your breathing.

But while you’re doing that, the phone rings and you can’t help overhearing it over the calm sound of the ocean, you get distracted as the wind starts to blow, ushering you back to the calmness of a quiet day, sitting on the sand and watching the waves.

This is one of the many exercises Muse proposes to help you loosen up. If you think Muse might be something you could be interested in, you should know the headband is up for grabs on the Muse website for $299 / €234 a pop (in black or white).

Muse Headband (4 Images)

Muse headband in use
Muse headband in actionSensors on the Muse
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