Mind Monitor

Dear All,
Greetings! Scot here. Received a Muse 2 on Monday. James is right, the Muse Monitor bluetooth cannot connect to the Muse 2.
I have used the Muse previously. The heartbeat monitor appears to be the only noticeable change to the headband.
The sensor has 2 SMT LEDs. One is a bright red. The other could be IR. It probably works like the finger pulse monitors used in hospitals.
I tried the heartbeat meditation and it works pretty good. The graph of heart rate seemed to agree with what I know my heart rate generally is.
The breath monitor did not calibrate because it claimed the headband kept moving. I tried it 3 times and held very still. It could be the tilt angle was wrong...more testing needed.
I'm really looking forward to using the Muse Monitor App with the Muse 2. My goal is to use it to record sleeping brainwave activity after ingesting certain herbs and supplements, like Bacopa, Valerian, 5-HTP, Alpha-GPC, Galantamine, vitamin B6, etc., to observe how they affect my brain waves during the different sleep stages. This is a continuation of lucid dreaming research I was involved with going back to 2004.
Many Thanks,
Scot

Dear All,
I've learned that using the Muse before bed is somewhat wasteful once you fall asleep. You can reach that level of calm or focused stillness, but once you fall asleep the hypnogogic phase sets in and your mind becomes active. It's obvious, based on Muse data, that meditation ceases once sleep sets in.
It would be useful if the app recognized that active (flatline) state, which is obvious from the data, and either stopped, or tried to rouse you from sleep. It will be interesting to see how the Muse works with a binaural beat track playing that synchronizes the hemispheres. Based on research at TMI, Hemisync can be used to put you in the phase that is focused and calm.
Scot

Dear All,
Reached out to the Muse team today about the heartbeat monitor. It works fine. The graph can't be finger scaled and the bpm Y-axis is fixed from +100 to -40 (how can a heart rate go below zero?). I suggested they make it scaleable and change the Y-axis range from +120 to +40 bpm.
I did a test Friday of 3 15 minute meditations. First was normal with bird feedback. 2nd was with a 3Hz Delta binaural track playing. 3rd was an Alpha 10Hz track playing. The normal and Delta were about the same (84% and 81% calm). The Alpha was 55% calm. Not sure why because Alpha is associated with a calm meditative mind. The reduction in Muse calm may correlate with Alpha being a presleep state where the mind is calm, but hynogogic imagery is active. More testing needed.
Seasons Greetings!
Scot

Dear All,
Have run several tests listening to an Alpha (9 &10 Hz) HemiSync track with the Muse2. If I focus on the Alpha wave itself, the Muse records a very calm state. This can extend for several minutes. It does require a lot more concentration as compared to listening to one of the Muse active feedback tracks. I'm building a 2 channel stereo mixer that will allow combining HemiSync tracks with the feedback track from the Muse. Alpha brainwave entrainment combined with active feedback should be an interesting test.
Scot

SStride wrote: ↑Thu Feb 14, 2019 10:10 am Dear All,
Have run several tests listening to an Alpha (9 &10 Hz) HemiSync track with the Muse2. If I get these lightweight wheelchairs soon and focus on the Alpha wave itself, the Muse records a very calm state. This can extend for several minutes. It does require a lot more concentration as compared to listening to one of the Muse active feedback tracks. I'm building a 2 channel stereo mixer that will allow combining HemiSync tracks with the feedback track from the Muse. Alpha brainwave entrainment combined with active feedback should be an interesting test.
Scot

What exactly are you hoping to accomplish with combining HemiSync tracks with the feedback track from the Muse, Scot? That sounds interesting indeed.

Dear LewisKop,
As you know, the Muse2 is limited to 5 different looping background tracks, with or without feedback and/or birds. Or you can turn all that off. I'm not very satisfied with the mind meditation sounds built into the Muse2. The feedback noise can be quite rattling. The heartbeat and body meditations are pretty good. The last several days I've been using the Muse2 only to record and display the Calm/Neutral/Active graph for the sessions. During the sessions I use an MP3 player to listen to various HemiSync, meditation/relaxation tracks or just white noise. With some of those tracks I've been able to reach 99% calm for a 10 minute meditation. Mixing the Muse2 sounds with other tracks gives more mind meditation options. For example, you could mix birds with a HemiSync track or white noise to produce a different meditation experience. Using a stereo audio mixer merely gives more options. I'm sure the people at Interaxon have been asked to make custom background tracks an option. It can probably be done, but when?
Very Best,
Scot