Choosing a headset with these goals
Portable7411
Hong Kong
My goals:
1) Ego dissolution. Practice death so not to be afraid of it when it happens. Are consumer level products good enough for this?
2) Improve social processing / reduce ASD / ADHD
I want to consider 2 budgets:
A) Money is no object. I see this project as important.
$1500. Perhaps the reality of neurofeedback doesn't match the idealism of it.
My values:
1) Access to data. Open access to the hardware. Even glued-in batteries annoy me. Needing to send data to the cloud would be unacceptable.
2) Mac compatibility. I don't think there is anything out there for Mac, but I thought I'd ask. As an alternative, the ability to train with a phone (Android, iPhone) would be fine, just for training.
I'm OK with getting a map done by someone else here in Hong Kong and then just training with their guidance.
3) After mapping, ease of daily use.
Related thread:
https://openbci.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/3525/which-eeg-headset&;
I asked a provider this question before. They sent me to a guy in the UK, but I'm never going to go there to get a map done the other side of the world.
Comments
Hi Portable,
While OpenBCI boards DO support neurofeedback apps (such as BrainBay, neuromore, OpenViBE, BioEra, etc.) these apps are not what is generally considered 'consumer-grade' easy-to-use apps for novice users. They require significant technical skills to configure, 'design' protocols, and use. So your first question, "Are consumer level products good enough for this?" is somewhat of a mismatch for the OpenBCI audience. Yes, OpenBCI supports neurofeedback, but not at a novice, introductory, ready-to-use format.
My suggestion is that you look over some of the material created by Dr. Cody Rall, MD. He is an ex-military psychiatrist who now specializes in reviewing and testing various consumer grade brain training products. Some of those DO address such issues as ADHD, meditation training, focus training, etc. Here is his Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@CodyRallMD/videos
He does periodic device review posts such as this one from early 2025:
re: Mac, supporting platforms, etc. Many of the devices Cody uses are supported via phone apps and cloud services. Some allow exporting of data. OpenBCI devices are fully Mac compatible, but some apps, such as BioEra, BrainBay, etc. require Windows or Windows emulation. The OpenBCI 'GUI' graphical user interface is fully compatible with Mac, Windows and Linux. And your EEG data is totally free and open for you to download / process as you wish.
re: neurofeedback under the direction of a practitioner, trainer. For those who can afford it, this is the more clinical approach. And frequently involves pre post brain maps to guide the process.
Finally there are some experts who have programs for training different styles of 'neuro-meditation'. Jeff Tarrant is one of these. Cody mentions some meditation apps, but with less depth.
https://www.neuromeditationinstitute.com/
Regards, William