This Futuristic Headband Wants to Help You Focus

The peculiar device is part of a new wave of cutting-edge brain-hacking tech. Is it for real?

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

At first glance, the headset is unassuming. It almost looks like a pair of oversized headphones. There’s no outward indication that it can read signals in your brain and help alter your mood. But its creator, the startup Neurosity Inc., believes it’s at the forefront of a new wave of consumer products that will literally alter customers’ state of mind.

Neurosity is one of a growing number of new companies making hardware that can read brainwaves. They’re taking advantage of the declining cost of electroencephalography, or EEG, the process of measuring the brain’s electrical activity. Startups with names like Emotive Inc., InteraXon Inc. and Earable Inc. are all working on devices that use EEG to measure everything from sleep to creativity.