14 DAY TRIAL // Being able to control technology with our minds has been one of the mostly unspoken goals of technological research for decades. We aren't quite there yet, but we might not have to wait for long at this point.
A woman by the name of Aiste Noreikaite has created something that could have applications in many areas: a helmet that lets you hear your own thoughts.
More specifically, she has created the Experience Helmet, a wearable device that translates brain activity into data, which is then converted into sound. The Experience Helmet literally plays back your thoughts.
How it was made
Designer Aiste Noreikaite invented the helmet based on an ordinary bike helmet. First, she took the whole thing apart, carefully. She had to be able to put it back together later after all.
Once it was in pieces, the helmet could be upgraded. The woman installed an electroencephalography (EEG) wireless headset and headphones inside. Then she reassembled the thing and went to the next step.
Which was to research how data provided by the EEG headset could be converted into sound. This took the longest.
She eventually decided to take the pure electronics signals and consider them as the brainwaves. Then came the part where she sat down in front of a computer and wrote an entire programming language from scratch.
That programming language would be able to translate the attentiveness levels of the wearer into electronic sounds, then send the sound to the headphones to be played.
A clear mind causes a high sound to be produced, but focus on a particular subject leads to a faster, more rhythmic sound.
It's not quite the same thing as hearing the words you form in your head, but for an initial step it's actually not half bad.
She even programmed the frequencies slightly different in the left and right sides, so that a third frequency is produced when they are heard together. With a vibration of 10 Hz, this frequency is similar to the brainwaves used during meditation.
Availability
Sadly, the Experience Helmet still has to be tested before anyone can come up with something it could be used for. Consequently, no sales ETA or price are known.
