Neurable One: EEG Headphones With Eight Brain Metrics

Neurable One: EEG Headphones With Eight Brain Metrics

Neurable One is a pair of EEG headphones from Neurable, a company based in Boston that was founded in 2015 out of the University of Michigan's Direct Brain Interface Lab. They combine active noise cancelling with 12 EEG sensors woven into the ear pads, and the companion app turns the signal into eight brain metrics. Neurable One is the first headphone pair the company designed, built and shipped itself. Neurable describes uses such as planning deep work around peak focus hours, adding brain data to sleep and heart-rate trackers, and stress awareness during meditation.

How the EEG Headphones Work

Twelve EEG sensors are woven into the ear pads, six per side, around the ear, with 16-bit resolution and 125 Hz bandwidth, DC-coupled. A 6-axis motion sensor tracks movement, and an IR proximity sensor detects when the headphones are worn. Talking, chewing, walking, music and noise cancelling all mix into the recording, and the software separates brain activity from that noise. EEG measures electrical activity at the skin's surface, not thoughts, words, images or mood.

Eight Brain Metrics

Eight brain metrics appear in the app, each compared with the user's own baseline rather than an average. Brain Battery shows the energy remaining for the day and updates through it. Brain Age estimates how old the brain seems from the readings, settles slowly and needs weeks of check-ins. Speed shows how fast the brain is processing information today and updates with each daily check-in. Focus shows how steadily attention holds on the current task.

Alpha Peak Frequency is the strongest resting brain rhythm with eyes closed, measured during check-in, and it moves over weeks. Load shows how hard the brain works to keep up with the task. Stress shows the tension pattern in brain activity. Sleepiness shows the drift toward sleep and changes quickly. The home screen shows Brain Battery, Brain Age and Speed.

Check-Ins and Sessions

The app, available on iOS and Android, is optional, since the headphones work as standard noise-cancelling headphones without it. Each time the headphones are put on, a one-minute check-in with eyes closed sets the starting point, and each metric is compared with the last check-in. In live focus sessions, focus appears in real time, the app nudges through the audio when focus drifts, and stretches of recovered focus are marked Boosted. Break suggestions follow brain data, and the user decides whether to take them.

Meditation sessions give live feedback on the brain signal, and nap sessions can be guided or unguided with a selectable length. The Train tab offers short games grouped by skill, such as attention and task switching, and more unlock with use.

History and Data

Check-ins and sessions save automatically and can be reopened, with a calendar showing the daily streak and weekly and monthly reports showing trends. Brain Age trends can be viewed over 7, 30 and 90 days. History is saved on the phone and backed up to a Neurable account, and it returns after a reinstall once the user signs in. Raw recordings are processed and stored on Neurable's servers, and the account and all data can be deleted from the app.

Audio and Battery

The headphones use 40 mm beryllium drivers with active noise cancelling and ambient listening, and six microphones handle calls. Bluetooth 5.2 supports AAC and aptX codecs and connects to two devices at once, and focus sessions keep recording through calls, videos and music. Battery life is 22 hours of audio, or 12 hours with EEG running. Charging over USB-C gives 2 hours of use in 15 minutes, and EEG pauses while charging and below 20% battery.

Build, Fit and Box

The headband is vegan leather, with anodized aluminum and nylon ear pads, in black. Buttons on the ear cups control noise, volume and playback. The headphones weigh 345 g (12 oz) and fold to 200 x 195 mm. A fit check shows signal quality for each ear cushion, and no number appears if the signal is poor; a dash means the signal was too weak to report, not a zero. The box holds the headphones, a carry pouch, a USB-C cable, a 3.5 mm audio cable and a manual.