Extended Reality
Metaverse is an evolving name in the tech space. Users can trade their services and products in the metaverse to earn additional income. On the other hand, XR (extended reality) has evolved as a technology where tech giants like Facebook, Microsoft, HP, Google, etc., are investing heavily. Metaverse, integrated with XR, takes the user experience to a new level. Many of these XR devices are already in the market, like Facebook’s Oculus Rift Quest 2 (latest), HTC Vive, HP Reverb, Microsoft’s HoloLens, and many more.
The Concept of Brainwaves
Brainwaves are rhythmic or repetitive patterns of electrical signals our brain generates while experiencing situations around us. These patterns are recorded as a density function of the brain wave signals by an EEG (electroencephalograph) method. Recorded brainwaves can usually be divided into five types: Delta (slowest: meditation: dreamless sleep), Theta (Sleep, relaxation: inner focus, dreams), Alpha (quiet, thoughtful times: brain resting), Beta (alert and focused) and Gamma (Fastest: Higher level consciousness). Reading brainwaves can give us an idea about the current patterns of the user’s brain activity. Through this, we can infer the current feeling that the user is experiencing.
Devices With Brainwaves Functionality
Mindset Smart Headphone
It has an in-built EEG measuring functionality for tracking the focus levels of the user and alerting them if they drop. This functionality helps the user maintain a state of deep focus for longer.
Mindset smart headphones with EEG sensors (Source)
Next Mind Sensor
It uses the brain's EEG signals to recognize the user's active visual focus. The visual focus of the user can further help in executing commands for the user.
Mind Sensor uses EEG signals to capture active visual focus (Source)
The Link
The link “by neuralink” is an ongoing project to design a fully implantable, cosmetically invisible brain-computer interface to control computer devices by processing only the brain signals.
MindWave’s Mobile 2 EEG Headsets
They have built-in EEG sensors to control various effects in device-supported applications.
Patents
Here are how brainwaves can be altered based on at least two studies and discuss how that could be a significant part of the future of the Metaverse and XR.
How Binaural Hearing works around Brainwaves for the Metaverse/XR (Source: Lumenci)
Binaural Hearing
US9516430B2: Binaural hearing assistance system comprising a binaural noise reduction.
AT Binaural hearing means listening with both ears. This mechanism works in animals to locate the sound source by comparing what is heard in each ear. The ears form independent receptor channels without interference between them. Sounds are received independently by each ear, creating different effects on different brain parts [8,12]. Brain waves can be altered by providing a user with binaural rhythm in specific patterns, the experiences and feelings can be modified, and the brain's natural cycles are reproduced.
Binaural sounds can be used to change the frequency of the predominant brain waves, inducing the generation of waves capable of producing relaxation, sleep, altered states of consciousness, lucid dreams, creativity, and analgesia [1,4-7,20,21]
https://patents.google.com/patent/US10029066B2/en?oq=US10029066B2
Audio Apparatus
US10029066B2: Audio apparatus and method for inducing brainwave using the binaural beat.
It is about an audio apparatus and method that induces a brainwave using a binaural beat. It includes a frequency shift unit that receives a first audio sound source signal and generates a second audio sound source signal as it shifts some frequency band of the first audio sound source signal by a particular frequency, and an audio output unit linked to the frequency shift unit, for delivering first and second audio output signals that correspond to the first and the second audio sound source signals.
Accordingly, a user can listen to a music signal or an audio signal to learn without knowing of the distortion of a sound source and can alter his or her brainwave state with no resistance or monotonousness since a required brainwave state is altered by applying a binaural beat to a specific frequency band of an audio signal, into, a music signal.
Inducing the brainwaves for a user can help the user shift the emotional or mental state. It adds emotions to the Metaverse. In Metaverse, brainwave induction can help make the whole experience more immersive and give the user a better feel of the virtual environment. E.g., if a user is attending a party or a meditation session in the Metaverse, the user's experience can be simulated almost equivalently to the physical experience. Binaural hearing also helps provide the user with auditory cues, such as following a defined path using audio volume differences.
Conclusion
Since Metaverse is a digital replica of the world, XR makes the whole digital world experience more immersive. There can be endless possibilities for what the integration of these technologies has to offer. Industries like gaming, events, music, and other entertainment industries benefit directly from these technologies. However, we always need to find out what direction the technologies will take. Whatever the case, the user's immersion will always be there, and brainwave reading and altering technology is a good bet to take. People usually lose interest in things where they need to be more immersed and interested. Brainwave induction can be used to fill the gap around the interestedness interest of the user.
Pranjal Mittal
Senior Associate at Lumenci
Pranjal has capacious experience working on the growing technology area of Extended Reality and related assets, including Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality. He has know-how on concepts ranging from head-mounted devices to immersion, gestures, user experience, etc. He currently holds a granted patent as the first inventor in the field of Ocular Assistance. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) University, India.