“Brain-computer interface technology” sounds complex and inaccessible, but Neurable is changing that with their Neurable app and premium MW75 Neuro headphones, which contain brain activity (EEG) sensors.
I’m a neuroscience enthusiast. I did have some formal education in the field as an undergrad in college. For instance, did you know that the part of the brain responsible for impulse control isn’t fully developed until around the age of 25? The folks who make apps know this, along with many other insights they use to help keep you addicted to using your favorite app.
With that knowledge, developers implement design features that keep you constantly checking or stuck in a “time suck” on their apps contributing to the lack of focus many people experience today. While it’s not always wise to rely on the cause of a problem for the solution, Neurable’s brain-computer interface might be an exception.
Can the problem be the solution?
There are various solutions that manufacturers themselves have implemented, built into your mobile OS under their “Screen Time” or “Digital Wellbeing” menus. You may even have access to “Focus Modes” that allow you to turn apps and their notifications off to minimize distractions. While that’s great, I’ve often found that you must replace a thing you’re removing from your life with a healthy alternative for that change to be long-term.
Then there’s the Neurable approach, which relies on gamification and technology to undo the problems they have created while also helping you train your attention span.
This could be that rare exception of the problem also being the solution. Hear me out!
In 2017, neurotech startup Neurable unveiled the world’s first brain-controlled VR game at the SIGGRAPH conference in partnership with VR graphics company estudiofuture.
That year, they had their gear pared down and paired with an HTC Vive, but it’s taken almost ten years of iterating to go from the Neurable Electrode Reduction headgear in the image below (right) to the HTC Vive model to their current retail offering, the MW75 Neuro wireless ANC headphones (pictured below, left).
You can purchase the standard Master & Dynamic MW75 for $599 on the Master & Dynamic for just website. However, the partnership with Neurable adds $100 to that price, meaning you pay $699 for the MW75 Neuro, which you can purchase from both the Neurable website and from Master & Dynamic, although the latter has fewer color options. We’ll get into what that price gets you as we talk more about this brain interface computer. It’s worth the additional cost if you had the money to purchase the original product.
For everyone else, this is an exciting technology that you should know about as it will get smaller and cheaper.
The hardware
The MW75 was already an excellent piece of hardware. It’s an audiophile-grade pair of Bluetooth headphones that you can also use wired. At that price point, you get elevated physical details, which include easily replaceable earpads, leather, a sturdy build that makes the headphones feel a bit heavy, and mechanical buttons that have a reassuring tactile click.
Sonically, you get a balanced sound that doesn’t sacrifice bass response or clarity to deliver an entertaining and illuminating experience. The bass isn’t ultra-dark but gives you enough rumble to keep things fun.
The highs and mids aren’t fatiguing, but the soundstage and instrument separation are expansive and teeter toward analytical when paired with the right wired mobile DAC/amp. My only issue with them is their earcup size.
I have to make sure they’re over my ears because they’re a bit of a tight fit for me, and if I don’t place them very intentionally, they tend to sit on my ears a bit instead of against my skull, just around my ears.
The other features are solid, too. The ANC is very strong. Using physical buttons so that you rarely need to touch your phone is well thought out. And the microphones that allow you to take calls are clear and crisp and don’t make you sound like you’re in a closet.
The only downside is that the noisier my environment got, the harder callers said it was to hear me, so there was no background noise cancellation.
Aside from that, the MW75 Neuro also comes with all the accessories you’ll need in the beautifully appointed hard case. Inside that case, you’ll find a USB-C charge cable that supports audio pass-thru, a 3.5m aux cable, a 1/4″ adapter, and a USB-A adapter if you’re using a device or older computer that doesn’t have USB-C ports.
All of that before we even talk about the 12 channels of EEG through the EEG sensors embedded in the modified earpads. Master & Dynamics’ OEM MW75 comes with leather earpads, but Neurable went with swappable fabric earpads to accommodate the sensors.
Neurable AI reads your brainwaves
At the heart of this is Neurable AI, the brainchild of Neurable CEO and co-founder Dr. Ramses Alcaide and his team. In very simple terms, they use algorithms to turn your brainwave data into actionable insights so that you can retrain yourself to focus better on tasks.
You get all that info in the Neurable app, which is available for iOS and Android. I’ve used both for over two months and have been quite impressed with the experience.
The ultimate goal of Neurable AI and the app is to help you achieve better sustained focus when needed. But first, “focus” must be defined. Neurable uses the definition from one of the leading experts in the field, Dr. Gloria Mark:
“Focus represents a temporal state when people feel absorbed in an activity, and the activity generally requires some degree of challenge to a person’s skill set. Being highly engaged and challenged in work is correlated with motivation, activation, concentration, creativity, and satisfaction.”
Pro tip
This is also a fun party trick. In real-time, you’ll see how your brain activity influences the rocket.
After you’ve created an account, paired the MW75 Neuro, and gone through the tutorial, your introduction to Neurable focus will be a novel rocket game. Start the game, and you’ll see a rocket ship on screen. The better you focus on it, the faster it will fly through the air.
The Neurable app has three tabs at the bottom of the page: Home, Sessions, My Focus, and Settings. Home is where you’ll see messages on improving your focus, stats from your last focus session, and insights the AI has compiled based on your session history. You’ll also start a focus session from the Home tab.
The Sessions tab is where you’ll see a running log of your previous sessions, which you can click on. Then, you can see the Session Summary for each logged entry. The My Focus tab is where you’ll see the bar graphs of your cumulative focus scores and time spent in various focus levels by day and week.
Smarter focus, or a gimmick?
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Admittedly, I’m very competitive, so the placebo effect was initially in full effect. Knowing my focus was being monitored was enough to get me to finally set up a focus mode on my Android phone to keep the many pings and tings at bay while I give whatever task the attention it deserves. That was great for the first couple of sessions, but after that, the old habit came back, and the real trials with Neurable began.
I wrote reviews, balanced my finances, and did research, all while either listening to Lo-fi hip-hop to aid in focus (something I’d been doing for some time prior to my Neurable test) or no music at all. It appeared the app accurately tracked my focus as I got work done or was distracted.
During two of my longest sessions, an hour and a half and two and a half hours, it was easy to see when FOMO and phone checking interrupted my attention span. On the other hand, it was also very easy to see when I was locked in, and the writing flowed.
The insights I’ve gleaned from the app and Neurable AI are that I tend to focus best in the afternoon and when I’ve chosen “Other” as my activity when beginning a focus session. My longest attention span was about an hour long, and my most extended focus session was two and a half hours. I definitely felt locked in and more productive.
I’ve come to look at Neurable like I do my Apple Watch and its notifications: it’s a good nag. It’s placing my lack of focus right in my face so that I address it right there, at the moment. The difference is that this isn’t any sort of alert to stand up because I’ve been sitting too long or a low fitness warning, but instead, the entire exercise of having sessions of focus is my alert. My “warning.”
That said, there is a “stand alert” of sorts in the app. When in a Focus Session, you’ll be alerted when your focus has been low for too long or when you’ve been working too long, and your focus is beginning to suffer. At that time, you’ll be prompted to take a “brain break.”
Neurable is great at “nagging” me when it detects my focus is low, prompting me to take a “break break” from time to time.
The point of that is to relax for a moment so you can come back to your work, refocused and productive, and it absolutely works for me. When I took brain breaks, I could see that the graph was back at high focus afterward but was more scattered in the level of attention shown if I didn’t take any breaks.
Being intentional about a goal generally brings with it measurable results. Ultimately, what the MW75 and Neurable AI do is help you cultivate focus.
Eventually, you won’t need Neurable because it will help train you to increase your attention span and give sustained periods of singular focus to those tasks that require it.
That’s the difference between what Neurable AI and screen time or digital well-being in an OS provides. The latter only tells you when you’ve spent too much time in distraction land, which is also a good thing, but it’s the ability of the former to retrain the amount of attention you give to those distractions and the quality of your focus time spent on those tasks you’ve identified as priorities in your life.
Verdict
The MW75 Neuro and Neurable AI are fantastic technological achievements that could be beneficial to a lot of people. Those who deal with various forms of ADHD and any other issues that keep them from achieving the level of focus they’d like to give to their tasks will benefit from tech like this.
Just like medical journals have found fitness trackers and smartwatches do help users increase their physical health by encouraging them to simply take 10k steps, the focus Neurable helps you put on your focus should net positive results.
The primary issue here is how new the tech is and how costly it is. At $700, this tech is inaccessible for many. Especially in the current economic climate and social instability that many may find themselves in.
Two things need to happen here: Neurable works with insurers to have this tech be FSA approved, and producing the EEG tech becomes cheaper so that Neurable’s next product is in the $200 price range.
On the latter point, I would love to see a partnership with a company like Soundcore, JBL, or 1More, as this would be an easy way to bring its brain wave tracking technology to more people. Fortunately, Neurable assures me that better access is one of its goals, and this is just the beginning.