Paris-based team shows stress-cutting gear at CES

Paris-based myBrain Technologies chose a fitting environment to unveil their first product: the melomind headset and smartphone app, designed to help people relax. That venue is the CES 2015 in Las Vegas. The melomind headgear provides a reading of brain waves, which goes over to your smartphone.

Elizabeth Lopatto from The Verge said you put on the headgear, and earphones to your phone, and music flows through to give you a sense of how relaxed you are, and maybe to relax you further. Mark Sullivan of VentureBeat also explained how it works: The headset "uses several inside contact points to measure electrical activity in the brain. It then sends the data in real time to the mobile app, which plays music to match the user's mental state."

CNET was also on hand to observe the device: "The helmet-like wearable from myBrain has electrodes on each of the four spikes that protrude from the core device. These electrodes measure your brain waves like a standard electroencephalogram (EEG) would, and transmit data on your brain activity to the connected app." The music component is interesting: myBrain sound designers composed the music used for relaxation, said Sullivan in VentureBeat. As Dumas described it to Sullivan, the user can control the type of music being played by his or her progress toward relaxation during a session. Each relaxation session lasts 15 minutes. The device will be available by the end of the year. The company is taking pre-orders on their website. The device is priced at $299.