Have you ever been working, deep in thought, when someone else speaks to you and interrupts your concentration? Imagine if your clothing could physically shift in order to communicate your mental state to those around you! This is an opportunity for a non-verbal social cue, providing wearable technology with the ability to augment the wearer with a new type of body language.
Concentration-Activated Wearables utilizes brainwave data via electroencephalography (EEG – the measurement of electric activity produced by the brain) and show others around you when you are concentrating through light or movement.
The brainwave data is collected via the Muse headset to determine when a wearer is concentrating. Muse is a brain-sensing headband developed by a local Toronto startup called InteraXon. What sets Muse apart from other EEG headsets is its design. As opposed to looking like a medical device that belongs in a laboratory it is meant to be something that you can wear in your everyday life, making it an excellent pairing for other elegant wearable electronic devices.
The wearable devices respond to the concentration state in subtle and organic ways. One lights in different colors depending on your level of concentration. The other responds via movement, slowly changing it’s positioning the longer that focus is maintained.
These wearables provide a form of expression that you don’t need to choose to activate. They simply respond to your current state of being, rather than being intentional activated. You may not necessarily notice it, but your colleagues can know that if wearable is in a certain state that is it not the best time for them to disrupt you from your work.