A Product Review: Nervana

Most of you are asking yourself, “What is this? I’ve never heard of this.” It is because this innovative technology has never been invented before. For those of you who do know what this product is, yes, I was an original backer of this skeptical device. This past summer on Indiegogo, I scavenged through the new ideas of entrepreneurs to discover Nervana, a device that uses electrical pulses to stimulate the vagus nerve in the brain for an activated feeling of euphoria while listening to music. That’s right. These headphones physically make you feel good while listening to your personal music; as if music doesn’t already make you feel good. The product was made by a team of doctors and engineers to revolutionize the way we listen to music. After a long four months of waiting for Nervana to arrive at my doorstep, I am finally ready to give a product review for curious consumers.

How Does It Work?

According to the Nervana website, “A central signal-processing circuit receives both music and stimulation signals and routes those signals appropriately to the two earbuds. The right earbud receives only the right channel of the music signal, which is output to a speaker in the right earbud. The proprietary left earbud, in comparison, not only receives the left channel of the music signal at its speaker, but it also receives the stimulation signal within the earbud material itself, to deliver electrical stimulation to the inside surface of the ear canal and, thereby, the Vagus nerve.”

To successfully use the product, one must fill the spray bottle with solution and squirt just enough to get the left earbud wet. This allows the electric current to travel to the nerve.

First Thought When Opening the Box

The picture above is everything I took out of the box upon receiving the shipment. This is quite the pricey product for music listeners, which is why everything is so well made and slick looking. I was impressed with the quality of an invention that recently came out of the prototype phase. It came with a battery for the unit, extra ear buds, a carrying case, a solution spray bottle, headphones and cables for connecting your music device.

First Use of Nervana

I was unaware what the spray bottle was for when I first tried to use it so it seemed like a massive failure at first. Once I figured it out, I played one of my favorite songs on a lower setting to test the waters. I set the unit to a short five minute session and waited for my reaction. At first, I thought the feeling was odd and uncomfortable but after a few minutes, Nervana started to grow on me. While scrolling through my personal tracks, I found myself increasing the strength of the electrical stimulations. Soon after, I started to feel a little tingle like the message in their videos that I have been studying since the product’s arrival. It wasn’t anything too extreme but I definitely felt something different from my normal music listening experience.

Getting Used to Nervana

After my first session, I continued to test Nervana with different durations of sessions and a variety of music from alternative to rap to electronic tracks and mixes. I enjoyed the long DJ mixes the best out of any type of music I tried. Nervana is a creation that picks up the intensity of the song and matches it with what it thinks is an equal amount of electrical stimulation.

Should I Buy One?

Because I am in college and work on a tight budget, I ended up returning Nervana so I can pay for my upcoming shows. After thinking about this tough decision, I did not think I would use it as much as I would have liked to. Does this mean you shouldn’t buy one? Not at all. If you have the money to spend and you love music as much as I do, there is no reason why you wouldn’t love this product. The only downside I see in this product is the price and the immobility of it. It isn’t necessarily a product you can use on the go since the phone attaches to the unit and the unit has the headphones attached to it. Nervana is a good product nonetheless and new things are always worth trying out. If you don’t like it or it’s just not for you, the company allows you to return the product back in its original packaging up to 14 days after you receive it in the mail. Happy listening and try new things!

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