CES 2025 has just started, as have the awards — and they hint that neurotech may be on the rise this year.
On Sunday, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) gave Earable Neuroscience a CES Innovation Award for its Frenz Brainband, an AI-powered sleep wearable that provides a “personalized audio therapy platform based on real-time brainwave tracking,” according to the announcement. The band pairs with various apps to provide support for related health areas like focus, CBT-i therapy, and cognitive function.
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The award is the product’s third in a row — Brainband won the 2023 Wearable Tech award, while its accompanying Frenz Sleep Science app won the 2024 Accessibility and Aging Tech award. The 2025 award is specifically for the Frenz Focus Flow app.
Frenz Brainband tracks EEG brain signals — which implantable neurotech like Synchron and Neuralink also capture — as well as eye and facial movements, heart rate, and more to optimize a wearer’s sleep cycle. By collecting more data about your sleep and using AI to personalize interventions, Frenz aims to help you develop better sleep habits. Research shows the product can be clinically accurate for sleep tracking, and that its size and cost make it a more accessible tool for cognitive health testing.
The Focus Flow app is new this year, just unveiled at CES. Expanding the scope of the “clinically validated” Brainband, the app “delivers personalized neurofeedback using real-time brainwave tracking to train the brain for improved concentration during demanding tasks,” the announcement states. Using specific frequencies, binaural beats, and “audio cues,” the app aims to stimulate activity in the wearer’s frontal lobe.
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The app, reportedly being tested now at CES, can also gauge activity stats like neuroplasticity and generally monitor brainwaves.
“Focus Flow has been in development by our in-house lab team and industry partners for over two years, involving more than 10,000 training sessions and millions of focus epoch samples,” said Earable founder Dr. Tam Vu. “With our R&D roadmap, this feature not only delivers a cognitive boost but also advances our understanding of brainwaves as biomarkers for mental health and cognitive performance.”
The launch — and the amount of recognition Earable continues to receive for Frenz’s constellation of wellness neurotech — speaks to a markedly growing interest in tech wearables as a health tool. Data from smart rings and smartwatches can help detect emergencies, predict sickness, and even diagnose fertility issues.
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Of course, with all that new data comes new privacy and security concerns. Consumer wearables that collect medically-sensitive information are operating in a relatively new field.
Alongside the new app, Earable also launched Frenz Brainwaves Labs, a collaboration platform for “universities, pharmaceutical companies, and corporate wellness programs.” Organizations involved can access exclusive APIs and data and personalize Frenz’s algorithms based on their use cases, setting the stage for Brainband to become more of a cognitive health research tool.
According to Kimi Doan, Earable’s chief innovation officer, the product is currently being used to study neurodegenerative disease, epilepsy, stroke recovery, pain management, and more.