Orphey is a luxury EEG-powered headphone designed to enhance well-being through real-time mood adaptation. Using brainwave detection and AI-driven soundscapes, it learns and optimizes the user's emotional state over time. Positioned as a high-end lifestyle product, Orphey is targeted at professionals, entrepreneurs, and individuals with demanding, high-stress lifestyles.
Industry
Neurotechnology
Year
2021
Areas of Expertise
Neurotechnology
AI
Smart Wearables
Luxury Design
Neurotechnology•AI•Smart Wearables•Luxury Design
[ THE PRODUCT ]
Orphey
A luxury headphone that reads the wearer's brainwaves and adapts what it plays in response, aimed at high-stress professionals rather than at clinicians.
The category it had to avoid is the one it most resembles: a clinical EEG headset. Everything about the industrial design pushes the other way.
[ HOW IT WORKS ]
One press, through the hair.
EEG needs the electrode on the skin, and hair is in the way. Our electrode study answered with two arches: with the headset on, press the outer one onto the inner one and four electrodes comb their way through the hair to the scalp. Released, they draw back in.
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01 . OUTER ARCH
Pressed, headset on
It closes the gap onto the inner arch
02 . ELECTRODES
4, carried by the outer arch
Out through the inner arch, between strands
03 . INNER ARCH
Shorter, resting on the hair
It stays put while the outer one moves
04 . EAR CUPS
3 fixed contacts per cushion
Hidden under the foam
ONE ELECTRODE, IN SECTION
Spring, spiral groove, comb legs
Once the tips meet the scalp, the spring takes up the travel, the groove turns the plunger and the legs comb the hair aside.
ONE CUP, FLAT
Cushion, fabric, three fixed contacts
Top, back and bottom, under the foam
[ THE ELECTRODE STUDIES ]
Four ways through the hair.
Before the headset had a shape, we spent two weeks on one question: how a dry electrode gets through hair to the skin. Four studies, from 16 November to 1 December 2020, each one building on the last.
Four studies, playing in turn . pick one to stop
STUDY 01An inner band that combs
The idea
Four first ideas, all moved by putting the headset on. Drawn here: an inner band, like a hair band, whose comb teeth rake backward as it settles.
What it taught
Two of the four came back in every later study: this inner band, and legs turned by the head's own pressure.
The idea
Pins folded flat in the band, held under tension. A push on the button and they swing down into a V, onto the scalp; a thumb folds them back.
What it taught
Small parts on a headband raise fragility and handling questions, and only two positions lock: open and closed.
The idea
Press two arches together and the electrodes come out; or, drawn here, slide one along the other so the combs pivot open, clic-clic, before the headset goes on.
What it taught
Both routes need a lock and a return between the arches and room for the electrodes, and the contact only comes with the headset on.
The idea
With the headset on, press the outer arch onto the inner one: the electrodes come out, turn and comb their way to the scalp.
What it taught
It set the architecture the concepts were built on, with three points to engineer: the lock and return, the bulk of two arches, the arc difference as they close.
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01 . 16 NOV 2020
An inner band that combs
Comb teeth on an inner band rake back as the headset goes on.
The idea
Four first ideas, all moved by putting the headset on. Drawn here: an inner band, like a hair band, whose comb teeth rake backward as it settles.
What it taught
Two of the four came back in every later study: this inner band, and legs turned by the head's own pressure.
02 . 20 NOV 2020
Pins on a push-button
Folded pins swing down into a V at the push of a button.
The idea
Pins folded flat in the band, held under tension. A push on the button and they swing down into a V, onto the scalp; a thumb folds them back.
What it taught
Small parts on a headband raise fragility and handling questions, and only two positions lock: open and closed.
03 . 25 NOV 2020
Two arches, two routes
A sliding arch pivots the combs open before the headset goes on.
The idea
Press two arches together and the electrodes come out; or, drawn here, slide one along the other so the combs pivot open, clic-clic, before the headset goes on.
What it taught
Both routes need a lock and a return between the arches and room for the electrodes, and the contact only comes with the headset on.
04 . 1 DEC 2020
One press, the mix of both
Press the outer arch: the electrodes comb through to the scalp.
The idea
With the headset on, press the outer arch onto the inner one: the electrodes come out, turn and comb their way to the scalp.
What it taught
It set the architecture the concepts were built on, with three points to engineer: the lock and return, the bulk of two arches, the arc difference as they close.
[ INSIDE ]
Contact through hair, without a clinic.
EEG needs the electrode against the scalp. Hair is in the way, gel is unacceptable in a consumer product, and pressure that guarantees contact also guarantees a headache. A contact that opens as the headset is put on answers all three at once.
Sensing
4 electrodes in the headband arch
3 electrodes per ear cup
Retractable contact legs, no conductive gel
On-board conditioning
Response
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi link
Cloud-side AI processing
Real-time soundscape adaptation
Learning over sessions
Luxury materials and finish
[ WHAT ONMOTIO DID ]
From a category that did not exist.
There was no reference product. The nearest neighbours were clinical EEG headsets, which is exactly the association the product had to escape if it was going to sell at a luxury price.
We ran the persona work and the design brief, engineered the sensor system, defined the AI sound architecture, and took it to a validated proof of concept.
Personas and brief
Nov 2020
Preliminary study, 4 Nov 2020: refined brief and vision, a preliminary specification of every function, state of the art, the client's personas in four settings.
EEG sensor engineering
Nov to Dec 2020
Four electrode studies in two weeks, 16 Nov to 1 Dec 2020, from comb legs turned by a spiral groove to two arches pressed together.
Concept development
Dec 2020
Exploration sketches, then three pre-concepts, A, B and C, each with two views, its inspiration and its annotated features, presented on 15 Dec 2020.
AI sound architecture
2021
The loop, set in the preliminary study: the headset reads emotions through EEG, and the music adapts in real time, through a smartphone app.
Materials and finish
2021
Seven trim and color trials on the refined shape, from black and gold to white with copper, before the white and the black colorways.
Proof of concept
Nov 2021
Refinement from V1 to V9, checked on a head form for fit and electrode positions, up to the final 3D model and renders, November 2021.
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Nov 2020
Personas and brief
We started from the client's brief: a headset that adapts its music to the wearer's emotions, for professionals aged 25 to 40, far from medical design. The preliminary study of 4 Nov 2020 turned it into a refined brief and vision, a three-page specification of every function, a review of neurotech and audio headsets, the client's personas in four use settings, and seven moodboards. It set the register, consumer rather than clinical, and handed the specification to the electrode work.
Nov to Dec 2020
EEG sensor engineering
The specification asked for dry electrodes on the scalp, through hair, with no gel. In two weeks, from 16 Nov to 1 Dec 2020, four studies tested four ideas, then push-button pins, then two routes with two arches, sliding or pressed. Each one listed its open points: small fragile parts, lock and return, bulk, the arc difference between arches. The last one, the outer arch pressed onto the inner, set the architecture the concepts had to carry.
Dec 2020
Concept development
From the specification, the moodboards and the two-arch route, we filled exploration sheets with yokes, arches and cups, then drew three pre-concepts, A, B and C. Each came with two views, its inspiration board and a page of annotated features, and the three were presented on 15 Dec 2020. One direction went into 3D for refinement, keeping the inner arch and its electrodes from the studies.
2021
AI sound architecture
The brief named the loop: an 8-channel EEG board and four states to read, stress, attention, relaxation and engagement, to be confirmed on a prototype. The preliminary study set the experience: emotions regulated in real time by adapting the music, through a smartphone app. We placed the loop in the product: contacts in the arch and the cups, the reading through the app, the adapted sound back in both cups.
2021
Materials and finish
On the refined shape, we ran trim and color trials, seven of them, from black with gold to white with blush cushions, pastel and violet accents and a copper line. They worked the details the final renders keep: a parting line across the outer shell, relief lines on its front half, fabric over the ear. Two colorways came out of them, white and black, carried into the final model and renders.
Nov 2021
Proof of concept
One direction went through nine versions in 3D, V1 to V9, reviewed on annotated renders: arch side views A to G, sections and clearances, the inner arch and its electrodes. V8 and V9 were modeled on a head form, with the electrodes open and closed, to check fit and contact. The final model and the white and black renders were delivered in November 2021.
We ran the persona work and the design brief, engineered the sensor system, defined the AI sound architecture, and took it to a validated proof of concept.
Three calls that shaped it
Contact
Actuated spikes that extend to reach the scalp
instead ofFixed electrodes held by clamping pressure
It adds a mechanism and a failure mode to a headband that has to stay light. Fixed electrodes would have needed clamping force no one wears for an hour.
Processing
Interpretation in the cloud, over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
instead ofEverything on board the headphone
It keeps the headband light and the battery honest, and it lets the model improve after shipping. It also makes the product useless without a connection.
Register
A luxury lifestyle object
instead ofA technical instrument that shows its sensors
Every visible electrode reads as medical. Hiding ten of them inside an arch and two cups, while keeping them in contact, is the design constraint the whole product is built around.
Contact
Actuated spikes that extend to reach the scalp
instead ofFixed electrodes held by clamping pressure
It adds a mechanism and a failure mode to a headband that has to stay light. Fixed electrodes would have needed clamping force no one wears for an hour.
Processing
Interpretation in the cloud, over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
instead ofEverything on board the headphone
It keeps the headband light and the battery honest, and it lets the model improve after shipping. It also makes the product useless without a connection.
Register
A luxury lifestyle object
instead ofA technical instrument that shows its sensors
Every visible electrode reads as medical. Hiding ten of them inside an arch and two cups, while keeping them in contact, is the design constraint the whole product is built around.
[ THE WORK ]
Concepts, sections and launch visuals.
[ WHERE IT WENT ]
The concept was validated.
Orphey reached a validated proof of concept with the complete product and AI architecture delivered, positioned as a luxury lifestyle product distinct from clinical EEG hardware. That distinction was the brief, and it held.
Proof of concept
validated
Full architecture
product and AI, delivered
Luxury positioning
away from clinical hardware
[ THE SAME TEAM ]
Bring us a problem at this stage.
This project needed several disciplines that usually sit at several different suppliers. Doing them under one roof is what stops a good concept from arriving at a factory that cannot quote it.
