A startup is on a mission to develop wearables that improve memory using electrical stimulation. The company prides itself with years of research-backed studies that have shown improvement of memory when the brain is electrically stimulated.
Recent studies about how electrical stimulation of the brain affect the brain have produced a positive effect. Most of these studies focus on how electrical stimulation can be used to improve cognitive abilities.
A study at Boston University was able to demonstrate the extent to which brain stimulation can improve human memory. The study involved 70-year-olds who were given the electrical stimulation and then tested on different memory tasks.
Researchers found that the group which had undergone the tests was able to perform certain memory tasks as well as 20-year-olds after undergoing mild electrical stimulation. These results were published in the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience.
Development of wearables that improve memory
However, it is a new startup company from Berkeley, California, that is causing waves on the filed of electrical stimulation of the brain. This is after raising $2.6 million, which the company said will go into research and development of wearables that will be able to increase the human cognitive abilities.
The company is priding itself on developing a product that is backed by many years of research into how electrical stimulation affects the brain. In fact, the company conducted its research in collaboration with the University of California at Berkeley.
The study from this collaboration was published this year and indicated that all the 40 participants in the study had an improvement in memory tests of 20 percent above the placebo effect.
Using wearables that improve memory resulted in 120 times greater improvement compared to the natural learning effect of the control group.
Humm is promising usage of this research data to commercialize on the usage of electrical stimulation in memory improvement.
They will be targeting working memory, which determines what a person can retain at a given time. The company will develop wearables that improve memory using years of experience gained during the research phase.
For elderly and middle-aged people
Humm indicated that it would use the amount raised into developing its first product, which was launched in August. The company stated that the target group would be elderly and middle-aged people whose memory is starting to deteriorate.
Ciarán O’Leary, a general partner at Blueyard Capital, which has heavily invested in the company, said,
Humm’s technology improves the performance of the human mind and has the potential to expand healthspan for millions of people.
Investors are optimistic that the new technology will be a success for the company. The company has also indicated that it will not make the wearable expensive so that they can be able to reach as many people as possible.
Led by Iain McIntyre, CEO and Co-founder, Humm plans to make the patch available to consumers in Q3 2020.
The company’s early access store is now closed after receiving thousands of pre-orders for wearables that improve memory from customers and a substantial order from the U.S. Airforce, but those wanting to be among the first to try may join a waitlist at www.thinkhumm.com.
The product will be demonstrated at the upcoming CES conference in Las Vegas this January 2020.
Featured image by Pixabay
