Muse is a smart headband designed to eliminate distractions and racing thoughts using advanced technology.
Featuring EEG-powered, real-time sensors, Muse can enhance calmness, sharpness, focus, and sleep, among other benefits, according to the official website.
Is Muse legit? Does Muse really help your brain? Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about the Muse brain sensing headband and its effects today in our review.
What is Muse?
Muse is an EEG-powered headband designed to support sleep, cognition, stress response, and more.
By wearing Muse as you sleep, you can take a “Digital Sleeping Pill,” or DSP, to help you get the best sleep of your life.
While you wear Muse, the headband analyzes information from your body, then uses special technology to respond to your brain’s activity. Because of this technology, you can shut off a busy mind and enjoy a restful sleep.
Some people use Muse while sleeping, while others use Muse while meditating. With Muse, you can track the effectiveness of your meditation to ensure you’re maximizing the relaxing effects – or getting the best sleep of your life.
Muse Benefits
Muse conducted a customer survey and found the headband and app provided the following benefits:
- 72% had better focus and clarity throughout the day
- 71% had better emotional regulation
- Muse improved sleep quality by 20%
- Muse’s Digital Sleeping Pills can promote better, more restful sleep
- Muse’s free app lets you track meditation sessions and use biofeedback to improve calmness
- Use the Muse headband to track your brain, body, breathing, movement, and heartrate with multiple sensors
Overall, the Muse ecosystem consists of an app and headband you can use to improve sleep, guide your meditation sessions, and use the power of EEG technology to provide proven results.
Enjoy the benefits of Muse today by ordering yours now. Click here to get started!
How Does Muse Work?
Muse works in multiple ways to enhance sleep and meditation. It gathers data from a collection of sensors, then runs that data through advanced algorithms to help you achieve optimal relaxation, sleep, and meditation.
Muse has EEG sensors, for example, that translate your brainwaves into the guiding sounds of weather as you meditate. When your brain is unfocused, you might hear stormy weather, encouraging you to clear your mind and calm your breathing.
Neuroscience researchers around the world use the device to target brain activity. Using advanced signal processing, Muse interprets your mental activity, then guides you towards relaxing, calming, and settling your mind.
When wearing Muse while meditating, you might hear peaceful weather because your mind is calm and settled. If your mind is busy, however, then you might hear stormy weather, which is your cue to focus your breathing and mindfully relax.
Muse provides real-time audio feedback as you listen. After you connect to Muse via Bluetooth, just start the Muse meditation app, put on headphones, and close your eyes. You can track your progress in the Muse app after each session.
The Technology Behind Muse
Muse hides advanced technology within its headband. Each headband features 7 finely calibrated EEG brain sensors, including 2 sensors on the forehead, 2 behind the ears, and 3 reference sensors. These sensors detect your brain activity and transform that activity into measurable responses you can track using the Muse app.
Muse works using
- 2 EEG brain sensors on the forehead part of the headband
- 2 more EEG brain sensors behind the ears of the headband, including 1 gyroscope and 1 accelerometer body sensor to track movement
- 3 additional reference sensors across the rest of the headband
- 2 of Muse’s sensors are PPG and pulse oximetry breath and heart sensors
The headband also features a micro-USB charging port. You plug in the headband to charge it – just like you would charge any smartphone or tablet.
To be clear, Muse does not use electrical stimulation. It’s a passive tool featuring the same technology used in hospitals and research institutions for nearly 100 years to study the brain.
How the Muse Meditation App Works
You interact with the Muse headband through the Muse app. Described as your personal meditation assistant, Muse’s free mobile app works with the headband to provide you with real-time feedback on each meditation session.
You can view your meditation streak with the app, for example, and your day-to-day meditation history. You can view each daily session, the length of time you meditated each day, and the quality of each meditation session, among other information.
Some of the key features of the Muse meditation app include:
Track Meditation Sessions: The Muse app lets you track meditation sessions. You can see how long you meditate each day, how effective your meditation was, and more. The app features graphs and charts that are easy-to-understand while showing data from your brain, heart, breath, and body.
Let Audio Guide Your Meditation Session: The Muse app provides guided soundscapes for your meditation session. If your mind is calm, according to the EEG sensors, then the app plays clear weather sounds. If your mind is starting to lose focus, then the app plays stormy weather sounds, encouraging you to focus on breathing and restore a calmer state.
Monitor Meditation Progress: Have you become better at meditating over time? How long do you spend in a meditative state in each session? The Muse app features a color-by-color breakdown of each meditation session, making it easy to monitor meditation progress over time.
Get At-a-Glance Meditation History: Track streaks, view the average minutes of meditation, and collect Muse points using the app.
Get Better at Meditating: The Muse app features an education center to help you get better at meditating. The Muse headband provides feedback, making it easy to see where you can improve. By implementing the lessons in the Muse app, you can see yourself progress over time, becoming better at meditating.
Challenges, Streaks, & Weekly Goals: The Muse app pushes you to continue meditating by giving you challenges, streaks, and weekly goals. You can set a goal for the week, track the number of days you’ve meditated in a row, and check your longest meditation session, among other data.
Meditation Journal: At the end of every Muse session, you can record how you feel and reflect on what you thought about during the meditation. The Muse app lets you select an emoji to reflect the session while also writing customized notes.
Sleep Tracking: The Muse app can also help track your sleep. Muse uses advanced EEG technology to respond to your mind, heart, and breath, encouraging you to get the best night of sleep ever. Muse’s headband uses its sensors to track position, monitor deep sleep, and determine how long you spent in rejuvenating sleep each night. You can track your improvement over time to get the best night of sleep ever.
500+ Guided Meditations: The base Muse app, including all of the features above, is free. However, you can pay to unlock premium content, including 500+ guided meditations. These meditation sessions are led by renowned meditation instructors. Some sessions have targeted goals: like stress reduction, sleep, or performance. Muse releases new, curated meditation content every month. As long as your subscription remains active, you get access to a stream of new content from renowned meditation experts.
The Muse App Works Best with a Muse Headband + Premium Subscription
The Muse app is free to download and use, and you don’t need a Muse device or Muse subscription to access the app.
However, pairing the Muse app with a Muse S (Gen 1 or Gen 2) or Muse 2 headband will unlock full features of the app, as will subscribing to the Muse premium subscription service.
Here are some of the features of using the Muse app with a Muse headband or premium subscription:
Digital Sleeping Pills (Available for Muse S Gen 2): Available for the Muse S (Gen 2) headband, Digital Sleeping Pills are a responsive type of sleep experience designed to put you to sleep and help you fall back asleep. If you’ve woken up during the night and struggle to fall back asleep, then you can take a Digital Sleeping Pill using the Muse app and headband, using the power of sound and EEG biofeedback to help you fall asleep.
Sleep Journeys, Soundscapes, and Guidance (Available for Muse S Gen 1 + Muse S Gen 2): If you have the Muse S (Gen 1 or Gen 2), then you can use the Muse app for sleep journeys, soundscapes, and guidance. You can find focus and deep sleep with sleep stage and sleep position tracking. Your sleep journey also includes a universal sleep score, insights into your deep sleep activity, responsive sleep journeys, and more.
Heart Meditation (Available for Muse S Gen 1, Muse S Gen 2, and Muse 2): Muse can tune into your heartrate to optimize performance, giving you a superior meditation or sleep session based on real-time biofeedback.
Mind Meditation (Available for Muse S Gen 1, Muse S Gen 2, and Muse 2): Muse provides you with real-time brainwave feedback via EEG, teaching you the art of focus. You can use the sensors in the headband to track your meditation session, getting greater insight into how you’re meditating and how your mind is truly relaxing.
Body Meditation (Available for Muse S Gen 1, Muse S Gen 2, and Muse 2): Your posture plays a critical role in physical relaxation. Using the Muse headband and app, you can get immediate feedback into how to position your body for optimal relaxation.
Breath Meditation (Available for Muse S Gen 1, Muse S Gen 2, and Muse 2): Breathing is important for meditation. You can use the Muse headband and sensors to calm and fight stress using your breathing. The Muse headband and app track your breathing in real-time, providing you with a guided response for superior meditation.
Guided Meditation Sessions (Available with Premium Muse Subscription): If you subscribe to Muse’s premium membership, you get access to 500+ guided meditations for sleep, performance, stress reduction, and more.
Biofeedback+ (Available with Premium Muse Subscription): If you subscribe to Muse’s premium membership, then you can connect your Muse headband with your favorite apps to layer real-time biofeedback on top of other apps. You can use Muse with your music playback app, for example, or with podcasts, helping you use the power of EEG technology to enhance your listening sessions.
How Muse Trains Your Brainwaves
You can monitor heartrate, breathing, and stress using many smart devices. One thing that sets Muse apart, however, is the way Muse analyzes your brainwaves. Muse uses EEG sensors to track brainwaves, helping you focus your cognitive energy while sleeping or meditating.
Muse’s headbands have been tested against EEG systems that are exponentially more expensive, according to the manufacturer. Muse’s headband has also been used by neuroscientists around the world in lab settings.
To track brainwave activity, Muse uses a combination of 7 sensors. Then, Muse uses advanced algorithms to train beginner and intermediate meditators to control their focus, encouraging them to enter an optimal state of focus.
Muse works to train your brainwaves using neurofeedback. The headband analyzes brainwave activity, helping you understand the steps you need to take to enter an optimal brainwave state.
There are five main types of brainwaves, each of which has a different frequency. The five types of brainwaves include:
- Gamma Brainwaves (32 to 100 Hz): Associated with perception, learning, and problem-solving tasks.
- Beta Brainwaves (13 to 32 Hz): Associated with alertness, normal consciousness, and active thinking.
- Alpha Brainwaves (8 to 13 Hz): Associated with physical and mental relaxation.
- Theta Brainwaves (4 to 8 Hz): Associated with creativity, insight, dreams, and reduced consciousness.
- Delta Brainwaves (0.5 to 4 Hz): The slowest and strongest brainwaves, associated with a deep, restful, and dreamless state linked to healing and rejuvenation.
By monitoring brainwave activity using the Muse headband, you can remain in the optimal brainwave state based on whether you’re sleeping, meditating, or actively thinking.
Muse Headbands
Muse offers two headbands, including the Muse S (Gen 1 or Gen 2) and the Muse 2. The Muse 2 is designed specifically for meditation, while the Muse S is designed for meditation and sleep:
- Muse 2 ($249.99): For meditation.
- Muse S (Gen 1 or Gen 2) ($399.99): For meditation and sleep.
Both versions of the headband let you use the power of EEG technology to enhance mental clarity and receive powerful feedback on sleep, meditation, and more.
Muse no longer sells the Muse S (Gen 1). You can exclusively buy the Muse 2 or Muse S (Gen 2) online through ChooseMuse.com.
Muse 2 ($249.99)
Priced at $249.99, the Muse 2 is Muse’s entry-level brain sensing headband. It uses multiple sensors to track meditation in real-time, connecting with the Muse app to improve your meditation sessions.
Core features of the Muse 2 include:
- Use multiple sensors for real-time feedback on your meditation sessions
- Pairs with Muse app to track meditation progress over time
- Get real-time feedback on brainwaves (via EEG sensors) to enhance the art of focus
- Tune into your heartrate with heartrate sensors to optimize meditation performance
- Features accelerometer and gyroscope to adjust meditation posture and encourage physical relaxation
- Uses breath sensor to control breathing to help you find calmness and fight stress
When you meditate, it’s hard to know how well you’re meditating. The Muse 2 makes it easy. Using a collection of sensors, Muse 2 gives you greater insight into each meditation session while also helping to guide each session. You can see how your breathing, posture, and heartrate change while meditating. You can also see how your meditation improves over time.
Some of the tech specs behind the Muse 2 include:
- Mind sensor (EEG)
- Heart sensors (PPG + pulse oximetry)
- Body sensor (accelerometer)
- Breath sensor (PPG + gyroscope)
- 5 hours of continuous use with rechargeable lithium ion battery
- 1 headband for multiple users
- Wireless Bluetooth 4.2 connection
- Micro-USB port (with cable included) and LED charging indicator
- Compatible with Muse app for iOS 12.2 and Android 8 or higher
Muse S ($399.99)
The Muse S (Gen 2) is Muse’s higher-end headband designed for meditation and sleep. The Muse 2 gives you access to unique perks like Digital Sleeping Pills (DSPs) to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. You get EEG-powered meditation and sleep report for optimal results.
Key features of the Muse S (Gen 2) include:
- Access advanced EEG technology to track your mind, heart, and breath
- Comfy, brain-sensing headband to help track focus, meditation, sleep, and stress response
- Refocus during the day and recover at night
- Use immersive, intelligent sleep soundscapes to optimize sleep
- Enjoy the ultimate sleep or meditation experience customized to your unique body and biofeedback
Like the Muse 2, the Muse S connects to the Muse app to track and optimize meditation and sleep. You can track your sleep sessions over time, monitoring things like deep sleep, heart rate, and breathing. You can also track your meditation sessions and get individual biofeedback for each meditation session – similar to the Muse 2.
Some of the tech specs behind the Muse S (Gen 2) include:
- Digital Sleeping Pills (DSPs) made with EEG + PPG + Smart-Fade Technology)
- Sleep tracking sensors (EEG + PPG + accelerometer)
- Mind sensors (EEG)
- Heart sensors (PPG + pulse oximetry)
- Body sensor (accelerometer)
- Breath sensors (PPG + gyroscope)
- 10 hours of battery life via rechargeable lithium ion battery (3 hour charge time)
- 1 headband for multiple users
- Wireless Bluetooth 4.2 connectivity
- Micro-USB port (with cable included) and LED charging indicator
- Compatible with Muse app for iOS 12.2 and Android 8 or higher
Muse App Premium Subscription ($12.99 Per Month or $94.99 Per Year)
Muse also offers a premium subscription to the app. The Muse app is free to download and use. To access additional content, however, you can pay for a premium subscription.
Key features of the Muse app premium subscription include:
- Priced at just $9.99 per year for your first year for new subscribers
- Access Muse Biofeedback+, connecting Muse’s sensing technology with your favorite apps
- 500+ guided meditations
- Monthly updates from 20+ meditation teachers
- New content released monthly
- Available for iOS or Android
Your premium subscription comes with guided meditation sessions, including “Collections” of original meditations designed with targeted goals. You could listen to a 10-minute meditation session before sleep, for example, to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Available Collections include targeted goals like:
- Sleep
- Increased confidence
- Happiness
- Stress reduction
- Work performance
- And more
The premium subscription also includes two step-by-step “Courses.” Each Course features sequential, in-depth instructions to achieve targeted goals – including goals similar to the meditation sessions above.
Overall, the combination of the Muse headband and Muse premium subscription helps you get the most out of your Muse experience. However, the Muse headband is also perfectly compatible with the free app.
Muse Moneyback Guarantee
Muse offers a 30 day moneyback guarantee on all headbands.
If you’re unhappy with your Muse 2 or Muse S for any reason within 30 days, then contact the manufacturer for a complete refund.
About Muse
Muse is made by a Toronto-based tech company named InteraXon. That company was founded with the goal of being industry leaders in utilizing brainwaves and biometric data to achieve targeted results.
Today, over 50,000+ people have used InteraXon’s brain-sensing technology, and the number continues to grow.
Prior to launching Muse, InteraXon had a proven history of working with top-tier goods, transportation, and tech companies to create brain-sensing programs. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, for example, InteraXon developed a technology allowing visitors to control the lights on Niagara Falls, the CN Tower, and the Canadian Parliament buildings using the power of their minds.
InteraXon launched the first Muse headband in 2014.
You can contact InteraXon and the Muse customer service team via the following:
- Online Contact Form & Live Chat: https://choosemuse.com/contact/
- Office Address: 555 Richmond St West, Suite 900, Toronto, ON, Canada M5V 3B1
Final Word
Muse is a brain sensing headband available in the form of the Muse 2 ($249.99) or Muse S ($399.99).
By wearing the Muse headband as you sleep or meditate, you can get real-time feedback on the effectiveness of each meditation or sleep session. You can also pair the headband with the Muse app (available as a free app or paid subscription) to optimize results.
To learn more about the Muse headband and how it works, or to buy the Muse 2 or Muse S today, visit the official website.
Affiliate Disclosure:
The links contained in this product review may result in a small commission if you opt to purchase the product recommended at no additional cost to you. This goes towards supporting our research and editorial team. Please know we only recommend high-quality products.
Disclaimer:
Please understand that any advice or guidelines revealed here are not even remotely substitutes for sound medical or financial advice from a licensed healthcare provider or certified financial advisor. Make sure to consult with a professional physician or financial consultant before making any purchasing decision if you use medications or have concerns following the review details shared above. Individual results may vary and are not guaranteed as the statements regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration or Health Canada. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA, or Health Canada approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease and do not provide any kind of get-rich money scheme. Reviewer is not responsible for pricing inaccuracies. Check product sales page for final prices.
