humm, a neurotech company focused on helping people learn throughout their lives, today launched a public beta for the world’s first consumer learnable – a noninvasive wearable that’s clinically proven to improve your ability to learn. Backed by BlueYard Capital, CRCM Ventures and founded out of UC-Berkeley’s SkyDeck Accelerator, humm is a noninvasive forehead patch that uses electrical brain stimulation to enhance the ability to learn.
Based on research by the brightest minds in neuroscience, humm safely tunes the signals in your brain that impact working memory in minutes, helping to boost focus, multitask better and retain more information for up to two hours. Never before has this clinical and scientific research been designed in a consumer-friendly product for daily use.
“At this tipping point in our global economy, learning and adapting quickly has become essential in both our work and personal lives,” said Iain McIntyre, CEO and co-founder of humm. “Our goal at humm is to apply decades of neuroscience research and translate it into consumer products that are safe, affordable and easy to use, so more people can take on new challenges and unlock their highest potential. We are encouraged by our early feedback and are excited to roll out this next phase of testing so we can get humm into the hands of everyone who needs it.”
The new design of the learnable is sleek and simple to use. One 15-minute session with humm costs the same as a cup of coffee, without the addictive stimulants. The connected app will allow users to gain insights into performance over time and help users maximize every future opportunity to learn and grow.
humm uses transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to gently boost the power of theta waves – a type of brain wave that working memory depends upon. These brainwave patterns establish communication between different parts of the brain, restoring the flow of information and improving our ability to recall our experiences. In a double-blind, randomized controlled trial, humm observed a 20% increase in maximum working memory capacity. humm has also been tested by prestigious organizations such as the U.S. Air Force and is currently in use for research at UCSF’s Neuroscape lab.
“Brain stimulation technology has been around for a long time in the clinical world, but historically it has been far too expensive and clunky to use outside of the lab,” said Dr. Vivienne Ming, Ph.D, founder and executive chair of Socos Labs. “humm has reimagined what neurotech can look and feel like for everyday use and has collected overwhelmingly positive feedback on the experience in early consumer testing. We are excited to incorporate humm into our own research to better understand how the brain works and how we can improve it in the not-too-distant future.”
The beta program will run for about four months, and humm is anticipated to launch in early 2022. To be one of the first users, apply for the beta here, or sign up for the waitlist for more launch updates.
About humm
Founded in 2017, humm is a neuroscience technology company focused on helping people continue to learn and grow throughout their lives. humm’s first product is a learnable that can improve a person’s working memory to learn faster. humm is backed by BlueYard Capital, CRCM Ventures and UC-Berkeley’s SkyDeck Accelerator. For more information, visit www.thinkhumm.com.
