Subscription Center
A neuro-feedback-contrived couch in Belgium that came literally out of one of the designer's heads
December 11, 2009 | 6
Lucas Maassen, a furniture designer from Eindhoven in the Netherlands, donned a cap with a handful of electrodes when working with Verbruggen during the fall on this project, which was funded by the Flemish government in Belgium....[More]
The electronencephalogram (EEG) provided a 3-D plot from three seconds of recording. This plot became the design schema for machining the Brain Wave Couch.
[Link to this slide]
From a long train of alpha waves, ranging over a course of minutes, Verbruggen and Maassen picked a three-second segment in which Maassen had repeatedly closed and reopened his eyes....[More]
Each dimension of this stylized version of the three-second pattern chosen by Maassen and Verbruggen represents different characteristics of the alpha waves, which are present in a relaxed mental state....[More]
A computerized machine tool accepted a computer file of Maassen's three seconds of fame and milled the contours out of soft foam.
[Link to this slide]
Maassen [left] and Verbruggen take their creation for a test sit after machining is finished.
[Link to this slide]
Upholstery to finish the job consisted of gray felt with buttons in the valleys. The alpha waves that inspired the contouring are present when your eyes are closed....[More]
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
Scientists See Sand's Future
Weight Watching
Model Predicts Future Heat Waves Will be More Intense
Persistent Toxic Gas Eruptions Plague Waters off Namibian Coast
News Scan Briefs
Monitoring the Galapagos
Seeing in 3-D under the Sea
Why are outbreaks of Pfiesteria and red tides suddenly threatening our oceans?
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
6 Comments
Add CommentIt would be fun to be able to save some of those waveforms out as audio files and use this as a way to create music.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI hope that you meant "figuratively" instead of "literally" on that sub-headline. Otherwise, that guy has a head the size of a pick-up truck -- one large enough to hold a Belgian couch! 8-)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd what's the advantage of such a brainwave couch? A better support for your aura, perhaps?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOkay.. now cover it with leds that have neuro-feedback and I won't find this couch 3 seconds of stroking one's own ego.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis sounds like it could be used as a form of cognitive therapy for my partner with traumatic brain injury. We (he and I) have developed a technique of 'talking him down' when over anxious etc. Couch technique could be another element to this.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisZam,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you google neurofeedback and head injury, you will find much information about the clinical use of eeg biofeedback ( neurofeedback ) for remediation of brain injury. To find a qualified practitioner, try ISNR.org which has a list of providers.
Good luck to you.
Sincerely,
Michael ( a Psychologist and Neurofeedback practitioner )