A new headset created by two young engineers monitors brain wave patterns to help you improve your mood and deal better with unwanted thoughts
Neuphony’s headset is like a brain coach that gives you real-time feedback by reducing the volume of thoughts you’re stuck on, getting you back to a state of flow
Ever since Ria Rustogi lost her sister to a brain infection, she has battled post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The importance she lays on mental health comes from personal experience. “The physical body also struggles against challenges—even the fittest person can suffer a heart attack or diabetes. Similarly, the mind can also have its own struggles. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be anxiety, depression or stress. Experiencing panic, getting angry for no reason, living with mood swings, emotional outburst and overwhelming thoughts are all part of dealing with mental health,” Rustogi shares.
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In December 2018, the idea of Neuphony struck Rustogi and her friend Bhavya Madan—both BTech graduates from JIIT. In April 2019, the duo decided to turn the project into a startup. It launched in September 2020 at a time when mental health awareness was part of the conversation thanks to the world-wide Coronavirus-induced lockdown.
As per UNICEF’s latest flagship report, a survey across 21 countries has revealed that only 41 per cent of young people in India said it is good to seek support for mental health problems, compared to an average of 83 per cent from other nations.
Neuphony’s headset is like a brain coach that gives you real-time auditory feedback by reducing the volume of thoughts you’re stuck on, and gets you back to a state of flow. Using meditation and music as tools to train the neural networks in the brain, the device opens the door to gratitude, while helping you stay calmer, composed, and balanced.
Ria Rustogi and Bhavya Madan
“Neuphony believes in the unlimited potential of human mind and strives toward unlocking it to bring out the best in each. Neurofeedback has been scientifically proven to be a powerful tool to improve the overall health of your brain including memory, sleep quality and reducing stress and anxiety. It brings you the benefits of neurofeedback in the comfort of your home with the help of a EEG headband and a mobile application. The headband measures the electrical activity of your brain and the mobile app based on the sensor data recommends the meditation techniques best suited for you to achieve a desired state. Over sessions, it trains your brain on how to achieve the desired state,” says Madan.
The headband is recommended for anyone aged 15+ years. “For younger kids, since their brains are still developing, it’s difficult to predict behaviour patterns. It can help students and growing individuals deal with the high amount of academic/career pressure to make sure this doesn’t impact them adversely in the long run. It can also assist working professionals achieve work life balance, making sure their focus and attention span are not diminishing,” Rustogi adds.
Does a user need to secure medical advice before using this device? No, the duo tells us. “Do you take advice to track how many steps you take and calories you consume? This is a smartwatch, but for your brain. So, you can wear it for 15 minutes daily. It can be when you feel overwhelmed after a bad sleep, early in the morning or in the afternoon or just before going to bed to balance out those thoughts.”
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