The device, which entered an early pilot programme in September, employs auditory stimulation to align with the user’s brainwaves, encouraging a faster transition into sleep. In a small study of adults with sleep-onset insomnia, the headband reduced the time it took participants to fall asleep by 10 to 15 minutes after 30 minutes of use.

Unlike sleeping pills, which can cause side effects and dependency, Elemind’s headband provides a drug-free solution.

“We wanted to create a nonchemical option for people who wanted to get great sleep without side effects, so you could get all the benefits of natural sleep without the risks,” says Meredith Perry, Elemind’s CEO. “There’s a number of people that we think would benefit from this device, whether you’re a breastfeeding mom that might not want to take a sleep drug, somebody traveling across time zones that wants to fight jet lag, or someone that simply wants to improve your next-day performance and feel like you have more control over your sleep.”

Elemind’s origins trace back to academic research at MIT. Co-founders David Wang and Nir Grossman began investigating phase-locked stimulation, a technique that uses real-time auditory, visual, or physical stimuli to influence brain activity. The approach had previously shown promise in treating tremors and seizures using implanted electrodes.

In 2021, the team demonstrated that electrical stimulation outside the skull could reduce symptoms of essential tremor syndrome. Encouraged by these results, the founders shifted their focus to sleep – a less regulated area – to develop a consumer-ready product.

The resulting headband combines EEG sensors with Elemind’s proprietary algorithms to dynamically generate audio pulses via a bone conduction driver. When the device detects that the user has fallen asleep, it gradually stops the auditory stimulation.

“We have a theory that the sound that we play triggers an auditory-evoked response in the brain,” Wang says. “That means we get your auditory cortex to basically release this voltage burst that sweeps across your brain and interferes with other regions. Some people who have worn Elemind call it a brain jammer. For folks that ruminate a lot before they go to sleep, their brains are actively running. This encourages their brain to quiet down.”

While the headband currently focuses on sleep improvement, Elemind envisions broader applications for its technology. The company collaborates with eight universities to explore its potential in areas such as memory formation, Alzheimer’s disease, and essential tremors.

Early research has shown encouraging results. Studies conducted at McGill University revealed that acoustic stimulation during sleep enhanced motor cortex activity and improved memory task performance. Additional research suggests the technology could also reduce tremors and aid in sedation recovery.

“The vision is how do we move beyond sleep into what could ultimately become like an app store for the brain, where you can download a brain state like you download an app?” Perry says. “How can we make this a tool that can be applied to a bunch of different applications with a single piece of hardware that has a lot of different stimulation protocols?”