Muse Launches Athena, a Next-Gen Brain-Training Wearable
As wearables from smartwatches to smart rings become big business, brain-training may represent the next frontier
Muse by Interaxon has launched the Muse S Athena, a wearable headband that allows users to analyze their brain activity and blood-oxygen levels in real time for advanced “mental fitness” training.
According to Muse, the Athena is the world’s first consumer wearable to combine Electroencephalogram (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) sensors into one product. EEG tracks brain activity while fNIRS measures oxygen levels in the brain’s frontal cortex.
By analyzing brain activity and oxygenation levels in real time, the Athena essentially allows users to train their brains like they would their muscles at the gym.
“True health isn’t just physical – it starts with your brain,” said Jean-Michel Fournier, the CEO of Interaxon, Muse’s parent company. “Athena is designed to tackle the growing challenge of cognitive decline while marking Muse’s evolution from meditation to full-spectrum brain health. Just as physical fitness requires strength, endurance and skill, mental fitness demands the same targeted training.”
Available for $475, the Athena headband allows users to partake in personalized brain-training games, receive real-time insights into their brain health and measure progress over time through the Muse app. In one game, Athena users are asked to control the flight of an on-screen owl using only their minds. As mental effort increases, the owl moves faster; as concentration wanes, the owl slows down.
Muse says that by training with the Athena, users can optimize their focus and endurance while protecting against mental decline.
The Athena follows Muse’s existing wearables in the Muse S and Muse 2, both of which use EEG sensors only and are designed to optimize sleep and meditation. The Athena also offers sleep and meditation features.
As wearables from smartwatches to smart rings become big business, brain-training may represent the next frontier. Last year, Muse partnered with Alphabeats, makers of a brain-training app for athletes and high-performers, to make the Alphabeats app available on Muse’s platform.
Longevity experts including Dr. Frank Lipman believe brain-mapping tech will become more advanced and easily accessible in the coming years, potentially revolutionizing people’s cognitive health.
“I think brain health is going to become something we can measure fairly easily and then make changes accordingly,” Dr. Lipman told ATN last year, adding that such a development would have a profound impact on helping people defend against age-related cognitive decline including, potentially, against diseases like dementia.