New Research Highlights the Potential of Transforming Healthcare with Mobile EEG Brain Health Assessments

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Recent publications in Frontiers of Neuroscience, Scientific Report and Neurophysiologie Clinique validate the use of Muse® as a mobile EEG device to measure brain health and performance at scale in real-world environments

TORONTO, Feb. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - In a time with overburdened healthcare systems, mobile electroencephalography (mEEG) devices may offer a promising, cost-effective approach to overcome the limitations of traditional lab-based EEG systems by efficiently accessing neural data for medical screening and diagnosis. Recently, researchers from several international universities have successfully used Muse®: the brain sensing headband—a consumer device for meditation and sleep by Interaxon Inc.—as an mEEG tool to measure cognitive fatigue and prehospital stroke diagnosis. The studies explore rapid EEG testing in varied environments, outside of clinical settings, laying the groundwork for the future of brain health.

In January 2021, a team at the University of Victoria published a study on the efficacy of rapidly assessing cognitive fatigue, a brain state associated with increased incidence of errorful performance. Principal investigator Olave Krigolson and his fellow researchers studied brain performance on a large scale by collecting the EEG data of 1,000 participants completing a task while using Muse® headbands. Unlike traditional EEG lab studies, they ran rapid 7 minute sessions in a variety of venues, shopping malls, cafeterias, workplaces, and on campus. The study demonstrated that low-cost mEEG devices both conveniently and accurately measure EEG and human-event related brain potentials (ERPs) that can predict cognitive states like fatigue.

"Our work clearly demonstrates that mobile EEG systems can be used to quickly assess the brain state of people in any environment," says Krigolson. "These results suggest a capacity to use mobile EEG technology for brain performance assessments in industry, healthcare, and personal use settings."

Demonstrated by new research efforts^1,2, another possible use of the Muse® mEEG system is as a rapid, cost-effective prehospital stroke diagnosis tool. In January 2020, an initial pilot study in Israel determined Muse® devices can be used to detect the presence of ischemic strokes. This was more recently replicated by a research team at the University of Alberta. Their study published in October 2020, confirmed that the Muse® mEEG system was able to predict both stroke and stroke severity in just a short 3 minute recording.

Current prehospital scales used to differentiate between strokes and other conditions that mimic strokes, can miss up to 30% of acute strokes³. An accurate stroke diagnosis using an mEEG system in prehospital settings would ensure that stroke patients receive appropriate and timely care, while stroke mimics could avoid unnecessary transport to hospitals.

"Digital Health Technology is having a dramatic impact on medical research and clinical care. We are seeing innovative technologies like the Muse mEEG system emerge as cost-effective pathways to improve clinical care and to facilitate the use of precision-medicine techniques within our current healthcare ecosystem," says Dr. Walter Greenleaf, Interaxon's Chief Science Officer. "Low-cost mEEG systems and the vast amount of brain-health data they can measure and analyze will make it possible to conduct breakthrough research studies in the neuroscience and health technology field. The fact that mEEG systems allow us to collect key brain health information outside of the research lab—while the user is at home for example—provides a way for us to collect dramatically more relevant and accurate information. These breakthroughs are very exciting for the future of medicine."

Portable devices such as Muse® headbands offer a compelling alternative to cumbersome, complex and expensive lab EEG systems. As the COVID-19 and mental health epidemics continue to overwhelm healthcare systems, novel technologies, such as the Muse® mEEG system, offer the possibility of disrupting accessibility and delivery of care, alleviating the burden and improving outcomes.

For interviews and more information, contact Talia Noya at [email protected]. 

About Interaxon Inc. (aka Muse®):
Our team of neuroscientists, meditation teachers, and engineers develop state-of-the-art experiences using research-grade EEG technology. Our goal is to help individuals build a rewarding meditation and sleep practice to live healthier, happier, more connected lives through human-centered technology. Our award-winning neurofeedback devices, and premium content offering of guided meditations with responsive learning functionality, help users meditate and improve sleep hygiene by providing real-time audio feedback on their meditative state through the Muse® companion app. We make the intangible, tangible. More information about Muse® is available at www.choosemuse.com.

Milestones we're excited about:

• # of employees: 45+
• Offices: Toronto, Ontario
• Sessions of meditation with Muse®: Over 165 million minutes to date and currently one of the largest brain data (EEG) collections in the world.
• Research institutions using Muse®: The Mayo Clinic, NASA, Harvard, MIT, U of T, UCL, UCSD, Inria, UVic, UBC, and many more.
• Meditating with Muse® works: A recent study at the Catholic University of Milan showed that four weeks with Muse® significantly reduced stress as well as potentially influenced  beneficial neuroplastic changes in users' brains, compared to controls. Original published papers from the Balconi Lab study can be found here and here.

Citations:

1. Matan Gottlibe, Oren Rosen, Boaz Weller, Ayed Mahagney, Nicola Omar, Ala Khuri, Isaac Srugo, Jacob Genizi, Stroke identification using a portable EEG device – A pilot study, Neurophysiologie Clinique. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neucli.2019.12.004.
2. Wilkinson, C.M., Burrell, J.I., Kuziek, J.W.P. et al. Predicting stroke severity with a 3-min recording from the Muse portable EEG system for rapid diagnosis of stroke. Sci Rep 10, 18465 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75379-w
3. Brandler, E. S., Sharma, M., Sinert, R. H. & Levine, S. R. Prehospital stroke scales in urban environments: A systematic review. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000000523 (2014).

SOURCE Muse by Interaxon Inc.