Unlike an MRI, EEG machines don’t emit any kind of signal into your brain to help them read it. EEG Side Effectsįor the most part, EEG headsets don’t have side effects because EEG doesn’t do anything to your brain– it merely reads and measures brain activity and it does so passively. For instance, they’re probably not very good for improving sports performance– which requires sudden changes in mental state– but are good for teaching you to meditate. The apparent lesson here would be that EEG headsets are highly prone to moment-to-moment errors, but that those errors can be averaged out to produce good overall accuracy, though at the expense of moment-by-moment accuracy.Īs such, EEG headsets are worth using, but only for applications that don’t require moment-by-moment accuracy. That said, remember the earlier study which found that even the lowest-quality EEG headset on the market can be pretty accurate in detecting sleep stages.
#Easy eeg headset portable#
EEG Headset AccuracyĪlthough they’re getting better, portable EEG headsets still suffer from considerable measurement errors. However, studies have not yet directly tested using EEG headsets for productivity. Theoretically, if EEG headsets are good for meditation– particularly focus and mindfulness– they should be good for productivity. As such, all of the above studies provide support for EEG headsets having productivity benefits, particularly the one showing that EEG headsets have over 80% accuracy in measuring focus and relaxation. The best mental state for productivity is one of relaxed focus. They just measure whether you’re doing well, and that feedback can help you learn to focus, relax or be mindful more quickly and effectively. Another study found that while EEG feedback helped prevent attention from wandering, it didn’t speed up recovery after attention wandered.Īgain, this doesn’t mean EEG headsets, in and of themselves, make you relax, focus or be mindful. One study found that the Muse headband is 80-82% accurate in measuring focus and relaxation.ĮEG headsets (Muse again, actually) are quite accurate in measuring mindfulness and attentiveness. As such, studies supporting the effectiveness of EEG for stress reduction also support the effectiveness of EEG for meditation. Meditation is a way of reducing stress and enhancing focus and mindfulness, and EEG-guided neurofeedback exercises are essentially meditation with a neurofeedback mechanism added so you can see how well you’re doing. While enjoyment isn’t exactly the opposite of stress, another study did find that the Muse headband strongly and accurately measured enjoyment while playing video games. More advanced headsets have additional sensors arranged three-dimensionally. For two-category stress (either stressed or non-stressed) accuracy was 93%, but for three-category stress (no stress, low stress, or high stress) accuracy fell to 64%.įor reference, Muse is one of the less-capable EEG headbands on the market, with only four sensors laid out in a single line. One 2019 study found that the Muse four-channel EEG headband had either decent or high accuracy in measuring stress, depending on how finely they tried to measure stress. Average sleep duration improved by half an hour per night, and significant improvements were seen in insomnia, sleep quality, and sleep satisfaction.Īnother study found that even the single-channel NeuroSky MindWave EEG headset– which costs less than a hundred dollars and isn’t considered good enough for medical or self-improvement uses– is able to reliably detect which stage of sleep subjects are in. In a recent study conducted in September 2021, participants performed 40 nightly sessions with the two-sensor URGOnight headband. EEG Headsets For SleepĮven low-quality EEG headbands seem to be helpful in improving sleep. High-end headsets, like Emotiv, are often marketed for research purposes, however, their high cost makes them impractical for studies whose design would require the use of several headsets. It’s arguably a better choice for research compared to more expensive brands since actual consumers are more likely to use a low-end headset, hence better replicating real-life conditions. Muse is the most popular consumer EEG headset, is easy to use, and is also the most affordable EEG headset that’s designed for therapeutic use, rather than for entertainment purposes. There are a few exceptions, but in many cases, we have to settle for studies showing that EEG can measure what we want to improve, and then infer therapeutic utility from that. Studies on EEG headsets are usually focused on their ability to measure things like anxiety or sleep, rather than to improve them.