NEOSENSORY WRISTBAND
A NEW WAY TO ADDRESS HEARING IMPAIRMENTS SUCH AS
TINNITUS, HEARING LOSS, ENVIRONMENTAL SOUND AWARENESS
What is the Neosensory Wristband?
The Neosensory wristband is a fascinating technology that helps with various hearing impairments like tinnitus (ringing in the ears), hearing loss, and environmental sound awareness. This 3-in-1 wristband uses bimodal stimulation and takes advantage of the brain's ability to adapt (neuroplasticity) to help you overcome these impairments. The wristband is a non-invasive and holistic device that captures sound waves and translates them to vibrations felt on the skin. Over time, the brain starts to pair the sounds with the vibrations, so you can begin to "feel" sound through vibration, opening up a new way for people with auditory issues to experience the world.
What are the Applications?
The Neosensory is a 3-in-1 wristband, allowing people to use it for more than one purpose and with more bang for your buck, in our opinion. Discover the applications below:
Duo: retrains the brain to manage tinnitus, or ringing in the ears
Clarify: improve hearing without/alongside hearing aids
Sound Awareness: connects you deeply to your auditory environment
The Science
Dr. David Eagleman is the CEO of Neosensory and a Stanford neuroscientist professor and has developed the device's technology over the last 15 years. Dr. Eagleman even gave a TED Talk amassing 1.6 million views, discussing the technology on which the Neosensory wristband was built.
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Neosensory's wristband is a device based on neuromodulation. Neuromodulation involves non-invasive nervous system stimulation, helping with various neurological conditions. With Neosensory being welcomed into our clinic, Better Brain & Body now has six neuromodulation therapies that we use to help our patients. However, the actual technology Neosensory uses something called bimodal stimulation. As discussed in our blog post, "Bimodal stimulation means there are two modes (bi-modal) of stimulation to the brain and nervous system: auditory (sound) and somatosensory (touch). A key aspect of brain function is multisensory integration. This is the process of combining information from different senses to create a coherent perception of the world and reality. The brain is incredibly adept at processing sensory information. It receives signals from various senses, including hearing and touch, and integrates them to create a unified perception" (Golden, 2024).
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Neosensory creates a new way for people to perceive sound through bimodal stimulation. The wristband bridges the gap between sound and touch, enabling the brain to perceive auditory information through tactile (touch) sensation. It captures sound waves and translates them to vibrations felt and detected on the wrist. Over time, the brain learns to interpret these vibrations as sounds, creating a new way to perceive auditory information. Essentially, the tactile vibrations are a direct translation of auditory sounds. This innovative technology leverages neuroplasticity to establish new neural connections, allowing individuals with hearing loss and other auditory impairments to access sound through tactile input.
Neosensory Duo: Tinnitus
Tinnitus, or ear ringing, affects more people than you think. In the USA alone, 50 million people struggle with this symptom, and 2 million cases are debilitating. 90% of individuals with hearing loss are susceptible to Tinnitus, but it can affect anyone. Tinnitus is a persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears, unlike the temporary ringing that may follow a loud concert and dissipates after a few days.
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The Neosensory wristband addresses Tinnitus using a specific app-based program called Duo. The Duo application takes 10 minutes to complete and delivers auditory sounds translated into touch perceptions. Dr. David Eagleman, CEO of Neosensory, states, “Research shows that when your brain receives both signals, it rewires itself to reduce the ringing.” Over time and continued daily use, the brain learns to disassociate itself from the ringing. The other two applications, Clarify and Sound Awareness, can be used practically and for long periods of time.
Neosensory Clarify: Hearing Loss
Designed for high-frequency hearing loss, Clarify picks up high-frequency sounds in the environment and creates a corresponding vibration pattern based on the identified sounds. Formerly called Buzz, these vibrations from the wristband represent the missing sound information the person cannot hear. The vibrations are felt on the user's wrist, and with continued use, the brain learns to associate these vibration patterns with the corresponding sounds. This is neuroplasticity. Clarify can be used alongside hearing aids. Here are some highlights: Understand speech and conversations better, pick up on digital speech like TV or podcasts, and even pick up on phone conversations if you turn your speaker on.
Neosensory: Sound Awareness
Sound awareness is designed to help people with profound hearing loss become more aware of their environment through tactile (touch) vibrations. Like with Clarify, the wristband's microphone detects sounds of the environment. However, Sound Awareness analyzes and categorizes the sounds into different groups. For example, the device will pick up on the sounds of cars, traffic, horns, birds, animals, the wind, people talking, and others. Each sound category is designated a specific vibrational pattern that the user begins to comprehend over time, enhancing the ability to perceive and interpret sounds of the environment and allowing those with profound hearing loss to be safe and aware of their environment.
Purchase Neosensory
Better Brain & Body is proud to offer our patients the cutting-edge Neosensory wristband. The wristband is available for $999 and provides an innovative solution to transform their hearing experience. The company also has a rental option for those who wish to try out the wristband before purchasing it. Many professional audiologists who are unassociated with Neosensory mention that this device should be used with hearing aids for hearing loss. However, for those who are averse to hearing aids entirely due to cost, social norms, etc., this would be the perfect device as it simply looks like a watch or wristband. It's important to note that hearing aids and cochlear implants are quite expensive, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, with $4,000 hearing aids being average. Similarly, cochlear implants and other surgically implanted hearing devices cost around $50,000 to $100,000.
Please check out our recent blog post to learn more about how the Neosensory directly helps Tinnitus, Hearing Loss, and Sound Awareness. You can skip to various blog sections by navigating the "Skip Ahead" section at the top.
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If you are interested in how the Neosensory wristband may help you or a loved one, please call us at 704-752-8100 or click the button below to schedule a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation with our lead doctor, Dr. Alicia Brown.
