Brain-Scanning Headphones Determine Your Mood & Play Songs To Match It

Do you listen to music to put you in a specific mood, or do you listen to specific music because you are already in a certain mood? I tailor my music to whatever I’m doing. If I’m working, I listen to a certain kind of music. If I’m about to fall asleep, I listen to a certain kind of music and so on. These brain-scanning headphones will eliminate the need to create a playlist. They read your brainwaves to determine your mood, and then they choose a song for you that matches that mood.

I can appreciate this kind of technology, but at the same time, I’m not sure it makes a whole lot of sense. If we are in a sad mood, should we really compound those feelings by listening to a bunch of sad songs? Either way, these very intelligent brain-scanning headphones could potentially change the way some people choose and listen to their music.

This brain-scanning, music-choosing device was created by Neurowear. The way this works is simple. The headphones have an EEG sensor built in (that’s the big white thing you see touching her forehead). The headphones have to be plugged into a smartphone which will be running the corresponding app. The EEG sensor, through the app, determines your mood and selects a song with that tag from Neurowear’s database of songs.

They are officially called ‘Mico Headphones,’ and right now they are in the prototype stage. They made their first showing a SXSW, and apparently once the design is perfected, they will become available. As a little added bonus, aside from this brain-scanning device accessing your brainwaves, it will light up on the side with a little symbol to show your mood. You can see them in action in the video below. There’s no word yet about the quality of the headphones themselves. I can see how some people would like these, but they seem a bit gimmicky to me.