Performance enhancing head phones — science or psuedoscience?

This morning I got an email in my inbox from a company called Halo Neuroscience telling me:

“Hi Chad, I wanted to share a 2-minute video showing how CrossFit champions like Camille Leblanc, Sam Dancer, and Kari Pearce are using brain stimulation to get better CrossFit training results, faster.”

Halo Neuroscience (HN) is selling a device that electrically stimulates your brain called the Halo Sport Headset. HN claim, among other things, that wearing this headset while working out:

“…accelerates training improvements in: strength, explosiveness, endurance, and Muscle memory.”

The headset costs $749 USD, and, although not directly stated in the email, I can only guess that HN are contacting me because they want me to sell this product to my clients.

Most of the time I just hit the spam button on this type of stuff but sometimes I like to actually look into the claims. So, here is what I found…

The Science

This does seem to be a legitimate company selling a real product that is based on a real avenue of scientific research called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). This may seem like a basic threshold but you may be surprised how much of this type stuff is just complete made up BS. This product is not currently approved by the FDA, although from what I read, the FDA has a pretty low bar for approving electrical devices that are not implanted. There also is a decent amount of current research about tDCS and it might be a really exciting development in learning. Please take note of the “might be”. Mr. Novella at the Science Based Medicine Blog (my favorite source) states that:

“while, the research is encouraging, there isn’t enough known yet to start creating and selling devices to the public.”

I looked around and most of the “See The Science” links on the HN website and email, send you to a video of the CEO talking about the product. This isn’t science — it is a guy getting paid by the company to talk about their product. But… they do have a “Science” button in the main navigation that does get more in-depth. On that page there is a description of what (they think) is going on. And there is a research area (actual science) which is a good start.

They have four main papers listed on the Science page (hosted on their site) that must be the ones that Mr. Novella refers to in his post:

“Halo Neuroscience claims to have done in-house studies, but they are not peer-reviewed and therefore cannot be used to support claims.”

So, not much to go on there except potentially (but not necessarily) skewed research.

There are also a number of other research papers listed that are not those of Halo Neuroscience. They cover lots of different tDCS and related research. I do not have the expertise to judge those and can only assume they are the research that Mr. Novella refers to in his other post about non-invasive brain stimulation. In that post he concludes:

”In my opinion, tDCS is not ready for the over-the-counter market, nor the DIY community. Our knowledge base is simply not detailed enough. Further, even if we did have detailed knowledge of optimal placement, frequency, intensity, duration, etc. it would be difficult for the average user to get all these details correct. Even if these parameters could be fully automated, there is still the issue of the individual medical history of each user and how that might impact the safety and usefulness of tDCS. Meanwhile, regulations lag behind the technology and may never be aggressive.”

While generally safe (although more safety data is needed), we still do not have enough information about the net effects of using this technology in various conditions for a long period of time.

It is likely that for the foreseeable future consumers will have to protect themselves from companies selling tDCS devices with unsubstantiated claims. At present I recommend caution.”

Marketing

And that brings me to my final issue which is how this is being marketed. HN is using athlete endorsements. From the CrossFit world Camille Leblanc is the spokesperson. This is not necessarily a bad thing but please don’t be fooled by this, it is marketing. Just because Camille uses the product doesn’t mean it works as advertised or how she says it does. She is (most likely) getting paid by this company to promote the product. And even if she actually believes in it and uses it herself, she is in no position to make claims about the veracity of their claims either. She is one person (an athlete not a scientist in this field) which is anecdotal and she falls victim to the same cognitive biases and motivated reasoning that the rest of us do. A tell tale sign is what she said in her video which is a psuedoscience mainstay, “you only know how well it work when you try it”.

She couldn’t be more wrong. Only through proper research with rigorous studies do you know if something like this actually works.

Conclusion

So would I spend my money on this? No. Would I ask my clients to spend their money on it? Absolutely not. Am I open the future possibilities of this technology. You betcha! Just show me (well, not me, other scientists — the “peer” in peer review) some real evidence that it works and is safe.

Resources:

Fittestry Long Beach

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“I’m interested in giving everyday people the training and tools to get in the best shape of their lives. Fittestry should help you be better in your life.”

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