One of the more prominent applications of wearable devices is for health and fitness. A recent device in this category, the Fitbit Alta, is capable of tracking the wearer's day-to-day activities, the amount of calories burned per day and the time spent on workouts and on sleeping, among many other things.
Halo Neuroscience is also working on a wearable device under the health and fitness category. However, the device that the company is developing is not a passive device that will merely collect information on the wearer, but it will be doing so much more.
At TechCrunch Disrupt NY, Halo Neuroscience demonstrated the Halo Sport, which is a wearable device that looks like headphones. However, instead of blasting music into the wearer's ears, the Halo Sport applies a neurostimulation technique named transcranial direct current stimulation to the user. To bring about this kind of stimulation, the Halo Sport applies small levels of electric current to the brain of the wearer through electrodes in the device that touch the user's scalp.
The method has had various medical applications in the past, but Halo Neuroscience is taking the technique into the Halo Sport with the aim of helping out athletes with their training. This is made possible by placing the electrodes in the device to affect the wearer's motor cortex, which is the region of the brain that involves sports and fitness learning.
The technology, named neuropriming, is said to improve the response of the brain to training. Using the device's partner app, athletes begin their neuropriming session by simply putting on the Halo Sport. The energy pulses will then create a state of hyperplasticity, which will improve the ability of neurons within the motor cortex to work together.
While in a state of hyperplasticity, athletes can benefit from increased strength and skill acquisition. That is not just a promise though, as it is a measured increase from tests that Halo Neuroscience have conducted. For example, in tests conducted with the United States Ski & Snowboard Association, it was found that ski jumpers who used the Halo Sport were able to improve their propulsion force by 1.7 times and increase the smoothness of their jumps by 1.8 times, compared to ski jumpers that did not use the device.
The Halo Sport will make every workout more valuable to athletes, but according to Halo Neuroscience CEO Daniel Chao, the device is not meant to be a replacement for hard work. The wearable will lead to faster gains over the long term, but there is a need to use the Halo Sport alongside daily training.
The company, however, noted that athletic applications are just the beginning for the technology that it is developing. Halo Neuroscience said that it has teamed up with some of the top hospitals in the United States to tap the potential of the device in helping the recovery of patients who have suffered from a stroke. Strokes are among the leading causes that have led to long-term disability, with 800,000 Americans suffering per year.
