Fact check: Apple patents brain-wave detecting EEG-EarPods.

rated TRUE.

Another H/T to RANGER71.

EEG-Pods?

A Twitter thread gives an image from a patent application for EarPods that record EEG patterns: i.e. brainwaves.

This is the image on Twitter:

This claim is true, the image on the Twitter thread is of a genuine patent application by Apple Inc. in Cupertino California.

This link goes to the patent application on the official US Patenting Office website:

https://ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/20230225659

The patent was made in July of 2023, and seems to be fairly general, as the legal language is worded to encompass many possible variations: nearly every paragraph starts with the phrase, “in some embodiments”:

In other words, Apple are keeping their options open.

It means they haven’t made the final version of these EarPods yet. The brain-wave reading EarPods are still being designed.

The shape of the electrodes, the method of processing the signal, the distance between the electrodes are all still ‘up in the air’ so to speak. Interestingly, the patent application says when your eyes are closed – perhaps when listening to music? – the optimised signal is clearer, so a different set of electrodes may be used when the users’ eyes are closed from when they are open.

Scientists have indeed been working on this technology.

This article on pubmed about on-ear EEG monitoring makes it clear that scientists have been working on this technology, and that it is real.

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a widely used, non-invasive method for measuring and recording the electrical activity of the brain. Traditional EEG involves the placement of electrodes on the scalp,which are secured in place using a combination of electrolyte gel and a tight-fitting elastic cap to ensure proper contact between the electrodes and the skin [1]. While this approach provides high-quality EEG signals, it may not be suitable for long-term use outside of a laboratory or hos-pital setting. To overcome this challenge, researchers have proposed various approaches. For instance one approach involves the utilization of different electrode types, such as dry electrodes, which do no require electrolyte gels. Another approach involves redesigning the EEG system to enhance wearability and accessibility, making it suitable for a broader  range of applications, especially for long-term monitoring in daily-life usage [2]. These modifications aim to make EEG portable and wearable, allowing for  greater flexibility and convenience in its use.  Ear-EEG is a novel EEG acquisition technique that aims to improve the practicality of EEG monitoring or measurement. This technique involves the placement of electrodes in or around the ear to capture EEG signals.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37748474/

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-2552/acfcda

Possible beneficial uses?

Several beneficial uses of this technology immediately come to mind. EEG-EarPods may be able to alert users with epilepsy that an attack is imminent, or even alert bystanders or relatives nearby. EEG-EarPods may have some use in diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, where attacks may be mitigated with some sort of feedback of rhythmic stimulation.

The potential for abuse?

The potential for abuse, for such technology, is completely staggering. The thing we have to worry about is not that someone will try to do something that is clearly evil: of course, Apple will try their best to protect against hacking and so on.

No, it’s when these people are trying to do something good that we have to start worrying. Even fairly benign uses might seem fairly intrusive to most people at the moment, before Apple has got their marketers onto changing our minds; uses such as Google searches that measure the level of interest someone has in a particular search outcome or Apple Music feedback on the basis of someone’s emotions or brainwave engagement or analysis of someone’s emotions while watching a free movie, which is fed back to the movie maker so the AI can make a better movie.

Or even more worryingly, feedback from the EEG on someone’s emotions when they read a particular article about Covid vaccines, or the World Economic Forum’s plans for 2030, for instance. Imagine how the propaganda could be tweaked to make sure everyone with an EEG-Pod complies completely willingly.

Welcome to the Pod-world, comrades.

You vill own nothing and be happy.

guy in pod world - this is a fundamentally soulless image generated by substack’s AI image generator. Interestingly, he’s on an Apple computer. And he looks a bit like me……! Uh oh….. This guy has something much better than EEG-Pods, he has EEG-Earphones and probably Apple Spectacles.

https://x.com/Andercot/status/1765646849107804370?s=20

Further Reading:

Suhaimi NS, Mountstephens J, Teo J. EEG-Based Emotion Recognition: A State-of-the-Art Review of Current Trends and Opportunities. Comput Intell Neurosci. 2020 Sep 16;2020:8875426. doi: 10.1155/2020/8875426. PMID: 33014031; PMCID: PMC7516734.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7516734/

Kaongoen N, Choi J, Woo Choi J, Kwon H, Hwang C, Hwang G, Kim BH, Jo S. The future of wearable EEG: a review of ear-EEG technology and its applications. J Neural Eng. 2023 Oct 6;20(5). doi: 10.1088/1741-2552/acfcda. PMID: 37748474.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37748474/