If there is a reason why some athletes dope is because they want to be the best. They want to have that extra edge over an opponent, that edge to make them quicker and stronger, that edge needed to bring home the gold. However doping is illegal, although we to wonder where these Halo Sport headphones lie.
Launched last month, the Halo Sport headphones are a pair of headphones designed by a company called Halo Neuroscience. While they are an admittedly stylish pair of headphones, their main selling point is its claimed ability to be able to increase the sports performance in its wearer through the discharging of electrical pulses.
Basically these headphones will deliver 2.0mA pulses to the wearer’s motor cortex, thus allowing their neurons to react faster, which in turn will help boost their movements and coordination. Now we know that these claims might seem ludicrous but the company has conducted some tests and found that with transcranial direct stimulation, volunteers in the test were able to learn to play chords on a piano faster.
They also tested it out on the US ski team and found that professional ski jumpers had their propulsion force improve by 31%. It should be noted that these studies have yet to be peer reviewed, but there are plans to do so soon. There are also arguments that the studies conducted were on a small scale, meaning that it isn’t necessarily indicative of its success.
That being said, those who are interested can pick up a pair of the headphones themselves for $550 from Halo’s website, although right now they are sold out but you can sign up to be notified when new shipments come in.