These Headphones Will Play Your Music – While Getting You High
Toggle Dark Mode
A Florida-based company called Nervana has created a device — attached to headphones — that can actually make you feel high, all while playing your music.
While Nervana’s headphones will still play music like a normal pair, they feature an integrated device that delivers a gentle electrical signal to your ear canal. This in turns stimulates what’s called the Vagus nerve in your brain, releasing small amounts of dopamine, according to ScienceAlert.
The company calls their device “the world’s first consumer product to stimulate the body’s pleasure center and release natural feel-good chemicals synchronized to your music.”
Dopamine is a naturally occurring neurotransmitter that helps to regulate your brain’s reward and pleasure centers.
The headphones are reported to make users feel calm and relaxed after a short period of use — about 15 to 45 minutes — according to NY Daily News.
The small device that attaches to the headphones has three modes: Music, Ambient and Formula. The first plays your music while stimulating the nerve. Ambient mode uses sounds from your environment in addition to the stimulus. And Formula mode plays no music or sound at all — it only sends those gentle shocks in pre-defined stimulation patterns.
A writer for The Verge notes that Vagus nerve stimulation is a well-established way of treating epilepsy or depression, but doing so without a surgical implant — like the Nervana headphones do — is still untested.
As for how it feels, The Verge writer describes it as similar to a “9-volt battery on your tongue,” except sent to your ear and in rhythm to your music.
The company hopes that their device will bring plenty of feel-good vibes to consumers around the world.
“We wanted to bring the benefits of Vagus nerve stimulation to more people in a non-invasive way,” said Dr. Richard Cartledge, one of Nervana’s co-founders and a surgical chief at Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
The company’s device is currently available for pre-order by way of an Indiegogo campaign. Currently, 2,762 people have backed Nervana.
