Productivity. Magic word that many people out there dream of, but very difficult to achieve in the real world. The daily battle against procrastination, frequent distractions (courtesy of notifications, updates, and real-time alerts) and noise in general can leave us “floating in the water” without doing anything. The people behind the Mindset project believe they have the solution with a new system of headphones that combines noise cancellation and EEG readings to optimize our concentration at work.
Do you work in an open office? How do you get along with noise? Personally, I'm convinced I'd go crazy, because like many other people, I need silence (except for the keyboard and the computer cooler) to do anything minimally productive. The idea of canceling sounds is nothing new, but some manufacturers swear by its virtues when it comes to optimizing our work hours. The problem is that they often promise more than they deliver, however, those responsible for the Mindset project add an extra element to the equation: Electroencephalography.
On the one hand, we have the headphones themselves. Bluetooth connectivity, Japanese technology Onkyo, auxiliary audio input (for those situations when its battery throws in the towel), advanced external noise cancellation and a flexible design that adapts better to the shape of our head set the pace. But Mindset's ace in the hole is a series of five EEG sensors that record the electrical activity of our brain. The waves are processed through proprietary software, which identifies those moments when we are fully concentrated, and periods of distraction. A soft audio alert tells us when we start losing productivity, and if the data suggests fatigue, the program will recommend a break.
The Mindset campaign on Kickstarter went through the roof, reaching a collection of $876,000, when its base was only $100,000. Officially, there are about 28 hours left to access the special Kickstarter price, but even so, the headphones cost $249 (their final price will be $349). The first deliveries, in December.
