Synaptive
The Challenge
EEG records the brain’s electrical activity through sensors placed on the scalp. Those sensors were designed for straight, fine hair. On curly, coily and afro-textured hair they struggle to reach the scalp, which leads to poor signal, long setup times and recordings that are often unusable. In research, this means people with textured hair are routinely excluded from studies, so neuroscience findings don’t represent them. In hospitals, EEG is a key test for diagnosing epilepsy. Patients with textured hair are more likely to have failed or repeated recordings, and to miss out on diagnostic information simply because of their hair.
The Opportunity
Synaptive has developed an EEG electrode designed to work across all hair types. Our patent-pending design works with the hair’s natural shape and parts it, reaching the scalp however tight the curl. Setup needs no braiding, hair preparation or specialist styling. EEG has had this problem since it was invented a century ago. We have spent two years engineering a fix.
The team
