Halo Sport - Neurotechnology for athletes

@danielchao Super work! Quick question, sorry if it's dumb, but can this help me learn faster in other areas? Such as academics or help me think better when doing entrepreneurship stuff. Or is it mainly designed for increasing motor skills for athletes? Just curious as to what else it can be used for...

@dilyaraskar Great question. Halo Sport focuses on the part of the brain called the motor cortex. This area of the brain is both mission control and the battery that fires your muscles - ie, its critical for both athletic skill and strength. Importantly, the motor cortex is not a cognitive center, ie, it's not involved in attention, concentration, working memory, etc. This is not to say we're not interested in this! Stay tuned for product #2 :)

@danielchao If you can tickle with one part of a human brain, I'm sure you will figure out how to tickle with the others ;) Haha, best wishes! P.S: If this were cheaper and I could get it in Canada, could I use this as a small steroids for working out? Would it help me lose fat more efficiently and grow muscle mass? #IdeaForUses

@amol I thought you were joking. You're not joking. And yet, this seems like a joke. It appears y'all did a good job coordinating an upvote campaign on PH, so I'm now awaiting some input from my fellow scientists.

@amol Very excited to see Halo finally taking off. First elite sport. Next the world.

@amol Wow, I must say I'm impressed. I post a photo and y'all posts photos around my photo to make my post less visible. Not kidding, I'm seriously impressed with your guys' PR skills on promoting your widget.

@ericleepd Definitely. Eric - as a product designer, I thought you'd appreciate some of the finer products features of Halo Sport. First, our Primer design is a huge step up for the field. Gone are the days of sponges and gels. Primers consistently and easily make clean contact with the scalp, even through tough hair. Also, the ear pads are acoustically transparent. Almost all ear pads are acoustically insulating, which makes sense since they headphone makers want to optimize for music quality. For Halo Sport, it's more important for the user to be able to hear their coach/trainer and subtle auditory cues characteristic of their sport. Keep the questions coming!

@danielchao Hi Daniel, this looks fascinating. I'm curious about your primers, do they comb through the hairs as you put it on to make contact? You say gone are the days of sponges and gels, so I was wondering what does the "A spray bottle (for wetting Primers)" refers to? I'm also very curious if you have plans for future applications other than for athletes? Thanks!

Thanks Jeremy! Me too.

@mike_lehmann We often get asked about mental performance so thank you for bringing this up. Halo Sport targets the "motor cortex" which actually functions downstream of what most people refer to as the mental side of sports, ie focus, concentration, calmness in the moment. The motor cortex is not a cognitive center, rather it's the part of the brain that is directly responsible for sending signals to control AND power the muscles. As you can imagine, the motor cortex is central for an athletes' ability to acquire new skills and "learn" to be stronger. BTW, we think rowing is an ideal use case for Halo Sport. Nothing like showing more watts on the erg. Let's talk! - www.haloneuro.com/get-halo-sport

@danielchao Ahh cool! Makes more sense. If you are looking for a rowing team to try a few of these out, you let me know! Would love to see how it affects some of my top-performers.

@mike_lehmann Great to see a fellow rower chiming in! Anyone who's had that sensation of finding new legs in the last 250 will have no doubt of the brain's effect on performance, and the comparison between synchronous motor neurons and a well-coxed eight is nearly perfect. Oh, and I'm kind of jealous of that new boathouse of yours. :)

@wingeier Ahhh love the comparison of the neurons and a well-coxed 8. So true! Ha, yes, our new boathouse is very nice :)

Hi @jay_bee12345 - I think there are clear applications for anyone who is trying to improve their physical performance in some way. So it would certainly be applicable to armed forces, and also to any particularly ambitious landscapers out there! That said, we only have a limited release (the "Champions Program") to anyone who isn't part of a pro sports organization at the moment. Our initial focus is as a full service enterprise product.

@richlowenberg The Champions Program sounds like a great opportunity to get a competitive advantage! I believe this versatile physical performance enhancing product will hold tremendous place in CrossFit Training too! Thank you. Jaswinder Brar

@jay_bee12345 To add onto what Rich wrote below, one of our first partners was actually the United States Special Operations Command. Of course, that's all we can say about that 🙊.

@jay_bee12345 We've been working with Invictus CrossFit already - so definitely a fit!

@richlowenberg *Just rewatched the video and I understand now this can be worn underneath existing helmets! Very exciting possibilities with this product* If I may offer one more suggestion: (if you find the product may move about during rigorous physical activity) Consider creating a custom headwear Under Armour stretch garment to go over the device and the athletes head!! Thanks for your time and attention regarding this idea! Jaswinder Brar

@boxcardavid Glad to provide answers - folks usually have to beg me to stop talking about electrophysiology, which doesn't exactly make me popular at parties, but is probably appropriate for the CTO of a neurotech company. See my reply above to @rsweetland for the full details - but in short, we're applying a small, controlled current to the head, which is enough to encourage neurons to activate, fire together, and learn faster from training. In addition to our own work, there's great science on mechanisms, safety, and effects - hundreds of papers now over a span of nearly two decades from academics all over the world, and regular conferences where 100+ scientists talk about the fine points and interesting things you can do with transcranial electrical stimulation (tES). The reference sections of our own reports, available at https://www.haloneuro.com/scienc..., are a great starting point to learn more.

@wingeier @rsweetland Please elaborate on "small, controlled current" as that is just the result of applying a voltage. Where is it applied, what kind of voltage are we talking, how much current, what is physically meant by "encourage neurons to activate"? I assume it's not sustained but pulsed in some way? Please elaborate on your double blind studies, what was the effect as compared to the placebo of wearing the widget but turned off?

@boxcardavid @rsweetland Glad to keep elaborating - and, really, it's great to be seeking to understand the brain, this technology, and what's going on at all possible levels. Although, for some of this (like any deep scientific background) the citations will get frequent and I'd really recommend you take a look at the underlying papers since we're all just standing on the shoulders of giants and I'm paraphrasing the words of great neurophysiologists like Marom Bikson and Michael Nitsche. Warning: this will be a long comment! First, current versus voltage. I mention current first because when you're seeking to affect anything in the body with electrical signals this is primarily how we measure things - the dose, if you will. Whether it's pacemakers, defibrillators, deep brain stimulators, or peripheral nerve stimulators, the effect on neurons depends primarily on the amount of current delivered and where it is delivered. So, let's say we want to deliver a constant signal to the motor cortex - i.e., tDCS, or transcranial direct current stimulation. We program the headset to send a constant small current from one set of electrodes to another set of electrodes (we'll talk about location in a minute). Why do I say small current? Because the range of current used is generally 2.0 mA or less. For comparison, one tiny LED light uses more current than this. You don't need more, because neurons are good at responding to subtle inputs. The reason voltage is almost a side issue is because the voltage is automatically scaled to make sure the programmed current remains constant under all conditions. This isn't something that needs a microprocessor constantly adapting the voltage. In a pro-level device, this is done with something called a voltage-controlled current source, so it's a fundamental property of the output - the current remains at the programmed level. (Then, since it's the right way to build a device, current and voltage and many other parameters are constantly monitored anyway by a microprocessor to make sure everything is working properly.) So: in the middle of a typical session, voltage should be less than ten volts. Halo Sport can generate a voltage up to 36V. But, if it has to do so, it probably means that the Primers aren't making great contact with the scalp - under most conditions like this, it would gradually stop the stimulation and tell the user how to improve the contact. OK - location next. Motor cortex for the hand is located approximately under points on the scalp called C3 and C4. These are 40% of the way down from the vertex of your head to the pre-auricular point, which is on the little triangular point of cartilage immediately in front of your ear. Motor cortex for your lower body is located approximately under the vertex of your head also called Cz. The exact location is a little different in everyone - we are human, after all - but the size, shape, and geometry of the Halo Primers (advanced, comfortable electrodes) are chosen to cover C3, Cz, and C4 in approximately everyone. So, to affect hand dexterity, the current would flow between the Primer at C3 and the Primer at C4, and would have an effect on a region under these points, centered on or near hand motor cortex. Now, we get to the neurophysiology. Current in the scalp, skull, and brain takes the form of movement of ions, in the general direction from one electrode to the other. When this current flow occurs, it is accompanied by an electrical field that is parallel to the current flow. Think of a current of water in a river - there is a gradient of potential energy from a point upriver to a point downriver. Same concept - in tissue, this gradient is the electrical field. The fields are small, since much of the current doesn't make it through your skull (Miranda et al 2006, Clin. Neurophysiol. 117(7)). Luckily, neurons are very sensitive to electrical fields - it's what they do. When neurons are placed in an electrical field, they either get depolarized (a little more likely to fire) or hyperpolarized (a little less likely to fire). This depends on the geometry of the cell and the placement of the field, and was best modeled and analyzed by a scientist named Thomas Radman at CUNY (2009, Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol). Radman figured all this out with math, and then turned around and showed that it all worked the same in real neurons (Radman et al. 2009, Brain Stimulation, following up on the work of Bikson et al. 2004, J Physiol). It gets better: because neurons in the motor cortex are so highly organized, and the excitatory cells have different geometry from the inhibitory cells, you can stimulate with a certain current at a certain position and have a reliable effect. Anyway - this is what "encouraging neurons to activate" means, physically. Now, regarding sustained vs. pulsed: Halo Sport is capable of producing both a sustained current (like tDCS) and what you would call a pulsed current. Both are useful and both are supported by the scientific literature. Finally, in all our double-blind studies, which include the majority of our in-house work plus some of the partnerships we've had with elite athletes, the effects we've reported are all improvement with respect to a placebo group (in neuromodulation studies, we usually call it sham stimulation - i.e., stimulation that feels like the real thing, with the same headset, but tapers off rapidly and has no effect). Check out our "complex hand configuration task" and "isometric lateral pinch force task" papers at https://www.haloneuro.com/scienc....

@wingeier You should really put all of that on your website. It was very interesting. I don't know if it could fit under my football helmet, but I'd definitely try it during training sessions. 👍

@wingeier Really interesting answer. I think @_rsamuelson is right. You should put this information on your "science" page. Good job! Great idea!

@andrewwarner @richlowenberg Glad you enjoyed your demo, Andrew! If you're interested in learning a bit more, check out this piece in Newsweek: http://www.newsweek.com/halo-neu.... It covers some of the exciting work we've been doing with the US Ski Team and Michael Johnson Performance.

@rsweetland Glad you asked! In short, Halo Sport uses transcranial electrical stimulation (tES). A small amount of current flows from the Primers (advanced, comfortable electrodes) through the user's scalp - generally, 1-2 milliamps. For comparison, this is less current than would light up a typical tiny LED on a circuit board. An even smaller amount of current makes its way to the brain. But, since the brain is very good at responding to subtle signals, it's enough to cause useful effects. The current creates a mild electrical field around the neurons, which - depending on polarity among other factors - can increase the ability of brain cells to activate, fire together, and learn from training. Like the devices we've built in our previous roles at NeuroPace and elsewhere, Halo Sport automatically controls voltage in order to deliver a programmed current - since current is what is most relevant to dialing in the effect on the brain. Voltage varies depending on the programmed current, quality of contact with the scalp, et cetera. That said, the voltage for a typical user in the middle of a session will be less than ten volts. Halo Sport is capable of delivering pulses of constant current (tDCS) as well as other forms of tES. In all cases, the frequencies used are less than 1000 Hz, no RF or exotic signals. There's an extensive body of research dating from 2000 working out the mechanism, safety, and effects of this sort of technology - now, we've put it in a high-quality, beautiful, usable product. If you want to explore this literature, a great starting point is the bibliography sections of our own white papers, available on our site under https://www.haloneuro.com/scienc....

@wingeier These details are interesting, and treads one some unsteady (and potentially contentious) ground at the same time. I can imagine you have had your fair share of skepticism, but to add my .02... I lived with headaches for a lot of my life, and found myself unexpectedly deep into neurology, brain science, and some "pseudo-brain-science". From what I've read, directly affecting the brain with drugs or electricity has been fraught with debate, "placebo" arguments and mixed results. Where an agent (like anti-depressants, for example) HAS affected the brain, research has shown the brain to physically adapt to the presence of the drug, compensating by adjusting the sizes / sensitivity of various hormonal receptor sites. When the external stimulus was removed, the physically altered brain (having becoming dependent on the external agent) would go through a very unpleasant adjustment period, causing a dependency on the external agent. (These points are mainly from Robert Whitaker's book "Anatomy of an Epidemic" by the way, which cites various research papers on these points). Diet, exercise and adjusting the "normal sensory inputs" of course, has been shown to produce physical changes in the brain. The placebo effect, in fact, becomes a wild phenomena in brain science because decisions by the individual can physically alter the brain. Anyway, point is: The brain is still not completely understood, and I am skeptical about directly jacking in to this sensitive organ, the long-term effects and the dependencies this might create. To spark yet another contentious question, if a company could create a physical dependency on their product, would they? I hope this doesn't come across as too accusative. My cynicism is the result of many hundreds (thousands?) of hours and experimentation and misinformation found from the medical establishment. Your product treads closely on some of that..hence the long-winded response.

@rsweetland Thanks for the thoughtful reply. There's no doubt that brain science has had its missteps and misunderstandings - we'd almost expect nothing different for the most complex organ. You've hit upon a lot of the things that we think about every day as we work to understand the brain better and make useful, ethical, safe, and effective neurotech.

@clarashih Thanks Clara! We're really proud of the industrial design. If you're interested in seeing the design process, I've added an additional photo to our page that shows some of the original sketches.

@christinesirois The applications for gymnastics are fascinating to us. The sport is a perfect mixture of strength and skill, both of which are greatly improved by Halo Sport. Check out the work we're doing with the US Ski Team . Similarly, the most subtle changes in jump form, technique, etc make all the difference.

@yozzozo Great question. tDCS is def part of what we do. Halo Sport has the capability of other waveforms as well. And yes, the tech platform can be ported to different montages, though Halo Sport only targets the motor cortex. My understanding of Thync is that it stimulates a superficial nerve and has effects on energy levels - can be more activated or more calm. We're very different.

@taykcrane Great question, it's an important point. Yes, our testing used control groups who wore the same headset, received the same instructions and performed the same tasks, but received placebo ("sham") neurostimulation. The studies were double-blinded, which is best practice for running a trial. This means neither the research associate performing the study nor the participant knew which group she/he was in, and we tested our procedures by asking people to try and guess their group afterward (they couldn't).

@fredraymond7 Thanks so much! We're really proud of the industrial design. We went through dozens of hand drawn sketches before settling on the final design. You can check out a few of them in the images above!

@jayastu Thanks Jay! Check out the work we're doing with the US Ski Team as well: .

@jonomillin Plenty of research if you're looking for your next read https://www.haloneuro.com/scienc... :)

@saurabhsinha322 Halo Sport works best when it's used consistently during training, especially leading up to competition. While an athlete can absolutely still wear it day of competition, we don't imagine Halo Sport being worn during competition. I can imagine a number of use cases for Halo Sport, ranging from the military to stroke rehab (see: https://www.haloneuro.com/stroke...). Over the next few years though, we're definitely interested in looking beyond the motor cortex. Stay tuned! Glad you asked about PEDs. There are many differences. First and foremost, Neuropriming is safe. You can learn more about our safety profile at haloneuro.com/science#safety. Second, we're a training tool just like anything else in the gym; athletes still have to put in the work. Sitting on the couch with Halo Sport provides zero benefit. Similar to a protein shake the prepares an athlete's muscles for action, Halo Sport does the same thing for the brain.

@saurabhsinha322 @danielchao Can't wait to try this with pro athletes/clubs/associations I work with. Interested you mention this works on stroke victims, my wife work in that industry. Can I find out more on that side also please.