Mind-Reading Headphones Play Music Based on Your Mood

Finding the right song to suit your mood can be pretty frustrating, but thanks to the new Mico mind-reading headphones from Japanese company Neurowear, you won’t have to scroll through your playlist anymore. They’ll just scan your brain and play the perfect song.

The Mico mind-reading system is made up of two parts: a pair of bulky headphones and an iPhone app. The headphones come with a forehead sensor that analyzes the user’s brainwaves to detect his mood, then connects to the Mico database via the iPhone application and selects the song that best fits his current state, from a number of neuro-tagged tunes. If your mood changes, and you feel the song isn’t appropriate anymore, all you have to do is shake the phone to clear collected data and have the sensor scan your brain again. Neurowear’s revolutionary headphones also come with built-in LED indicators that display your mood through icons to everyone around you. Right now, they have an exclamation mark for when you’re focused, a “zzz” sign for when you’re feeling drowsy, and a cross icon for when you’re stressed.

Neurowear-headphones

The Mico mind-reading system is still in its prototype stage, but Neurowear hopes to develop a market-ready product “in the near future”. They currently have just 100 songs in their music database, but according to Engadget, they are considering the possibility of partnering up with services like Spotify, for a more diverse list of tunes. Hopefully, they can also do something about the design, because right now the headphones look huge.

 

If the name Neurowear and this brainwave-reading technology sounds familiar, that’s because they’re the same company that brought us the Necomimi brain-controlled cat ears, and the quirky human tails. The Mico uses the same technology, but it’s definitely more mainstream. As unbelievable as this technology might seem, judging by the reactions of those who have tried it, the Mico does exactly what they say it does. Check out the video below and see for yourself:

 

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