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This week, a neurotech startup Neirable launched his MW75 Neuro headphones with a rather seductive presentation that I don't quite buy.
Simply put on these headphones and you'll gain unprecedented access to the inner workings of your brain. Monitor your attention. Measure your mental fatigue. Assess your cognitive performance. This is supposed to be the next frontier of quantified self-motion—moving from steps and heart rate to the most intimate data source of all: your brain waves.
If you ask me, a pair of headphones that can read your mind either sounds too good to be true or too creepy to be good. Neurable has no plans stick to headphonesAnd they are not the only company make a name for yourself in space. Glasses, helmets, you name it, the next wave of wearables is targeting the brain. Whether you find it enticing or scary, the real question is: is this technology even real? Can brain-tracking headphones actually measure anything meaningful, or are people paying $499 for a complex placebo wrapped in EEG sensors?
Unsurprisingly, the answers are a little wrinkly.
What are wearable brain devices in theory?
The concept behind wearable brain devices is: using electroencephalography (EEG) sensors built into the ear cups, devices like Neurable's MW75 Neuro claim to monitor your brain's electrical signals, converting them into useful information about your mental state. The headphones promise to tell you when you're losing focus, when you need a break, and even provide a “cognitive snapshot” of your brain's health over time.
For the health-obsessed, it's more like catnip. If fitness trackers gave us insight into our physical state, wearable brain technology promises to illuminate the black box of our mental performance. In theory, you could optimize not only your training program, but also Job-work routinely, catch burnout before it hits you.
The problem, according to experts in technology law and neuroscience, is that we are nowhere near ready for this technology to go mainstream, either from a regulatory or scientific perspective. Let's start with science.
How does wearable technology work for the brain?
Before we get into the rather obvious privacy nightmare, there's a fundamental question about whether these devices can actually deliver on their promises.
Jose M. Muñoza fellow at the Center for Neurotechnology and Law in the UK and the International Center for Neuroscience and Ethics in Spain, is blunt in his assessment: “There has been debate for years about the effectiveness, precision and challenges of direct-to-consumer neurotechnologies such as this new device from Neurable,” he explains. “While it is true that algorithms that analyze brain data collected through EEG are constantly improving, this neurotechnology is still not accurate enough outside of medical or clinical settings.”
Problems both technical and practical. The quality of EEG data is extremely sensitive to electrode placement—sometimes within millimeters. When users install these sensors themselves, without medical supervision, their reliability drops dramatically. Moreover, the most accurate EEG studies use many more electrodes than multiple headphones.
“In general, you can wear these headphones and believe that they help improve your mental health, physical performance or attention,” Munoz says. “But what you're really improving is the manufacturer's algorithms, while transmitting your brain data for a very small cost.”
In other words, it's the old technology story: you are not the customer being served by the technology. You are the data source teaching it.
Dr. Annu Navani offers a more balanced perspective. She acknowledges that wearable brain devices have “significant limitations, including currently being expensive, less clinically proven, and less convenient and comfortable than wrist-worn trackers.” The metrics they provide are also harder to translate into actionable guidance—most people intuitively know what to do with their step count, but what actions should you take when your “cognitive load score” reaches 73?
What are your thoughts so far?
Navani believes that rather than replacing traditional fitness trackers, wearable brain devices will likely “complement rather than replace traditional devices, targeting a niche of users interested in knowledge about cognitive abilities and nervous system function.” She notes that traditional wearables still provide reliable, validated data on key health indicators that users can easily understand and apply.
Who here is really reading your mind?
Think about it (and hey, maybe enjoy the fact that no headset can successfully read these thoughts): your brainwave data is arguably the most intimate biometric information you have. We're talking about a window into your mental and emotional state. So what happens if you voluntarily give up this data without any meaningful oversight?
“My hope is that brain wearables are not the future of fitness tracking or any other industry, at least not yet and not anytime soon,” says Star Cashmantechnology lawyer and founding partner of a cybersecurity law firm. “We are still somehow faced with a complete lack of federal regulation in the US when it comes to biometrics, data privacy law, and minimal or no cybersecurity standards for these devices, and no rules to protect users.”
The implications are clear: “What happens when a wearable brain is hacked?” asks Kashman. The lack of regulation means that users have little recourse and limited knowledge about how their neural data is stored, used or potentially sold.
Beyond regulation, individual consumers still have their own privacy concerns. A consumer willing to spend hundreds of dollars on headphones may be the same type of person who is uncomfortable with constant surveillance. “Unless someone is so obsessed with optimizing their fitness journey that they ignore the serious risks that exist, I just don't see this becoming the norm anytime soon,” notes Cushman. Just look at Meta push for smart glasses. The technology needs to be good and ready before consumers start spending hundreds of dollars and risking their most private body information.
Bottom line
So, to put it simply, I asked my own brainwaves a question during this post: Are wearable brain devices the future of fitness tracking? Almost certainly not in the way their manufacturers hope. The technology is too immature, the regulatory framework is too sterile, and consumer wariness is too high for these devices to start popping up tomorrow like Fitbits.
I would argue that what we are seeing instead is a familiar pattern in the wellness industry: true technological advancements (EEG monitoring does work in controlled conditions!) are prematurely commercialized and sold with promises that completely exceed reality. The result is an expensive product that may provide some interesting data to some users, but is likely to offer more of a placebo than a breakthrough.
For now, wearable brain devices occupy an awkward position: too invasive for casual users, too untested for serious applications, and too unregulated to be trusted. There may be a future for them, but it's not the same – until science catches up with marketing and the law catches up with them both.
Until then your regular fitness tracker measure your heart rate and steps? It will probably tell you more useful information about your health than any headphones reading your brainwaves.
