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Daniel Cartledge with the Nervana player, designed to help people relax and feel in sync with music.

Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Lona O'Connor

    Introducing a new electronic product at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is like bringing a promising but unknown tennis player to play in the U.S. Open.
    So the little band of Palm Beach County entrepreneurs was delighted at the attention garnered by their device, the Nervana. It’s a relaxation instrument that is part music player and part electronic stimulator.
    “We didn’t leave our area, we had so much attention there,” said Nervana co-founder Ami Brannon. “We had buyers, we had press, manufacturers and other businesses and a few really big companies. We all got such a charge out of it. It validated the last two years of work.”
    If you’re already googling, it’s NERV-ana, as in nerve, not Nirvana, although you might play the band Nirvana’s music on the Nervana device and you might achieve a type of nirvana, depending on how you choose to interpret the term for ecstasy or enlightenment.
    The Nervana is about the size of a cellphone, only thicker. It employs earbuds like any portable music delivery system.
    The left earbud of the Nervana produces an electronic signal that is received by the vagus nerve, a long nerve that extends from the skull through the heart and lungs to the digestive system. From its base in the gut, the vagus nerve sends signals back to the brain, leading some doctors and researchers to call it the source of “gut feelings.”
    The device “helps people take control of their own wellness, to decrease stress and relax more,” said Nervana CEO Brannon, of Boca Raton.
    Though it utilizes technology similar to devices used to regulate seizures, obesity and other medical conditions, Nervana is not a medical device, according to its four founders — heart surgeon Richard Cartledge, his brother Daniel Cartledge, Brannon, a former nurse, and engineer Gregory Mayback.
    “It’s really a consumer device, to make people feel good, relaxed and in sync with the music,” said Daniel Cartledge, a Boca Raton interventional pain physician whose practice is in suburban Delray Beach. “There is over 30 years of research on stimulation of the vagus nerve to treat depression, seizure disorders and Alzheimer’s. But the Nervana is fun and recreational.”
    The Nervana can play any music you download into it, from Bach to Bieber, but its connection — via the left ear through the skin to the vagus nerve — makes the music feel more visceral and pleasurable to the listener.  
    Users at the Consumer Electronics Show described their reactions: “Tingly….calm…. I was tired but I feel pretty good right now, different than before.”
    Interestingly enough, the best effects come from electronic dance music, with its pronounced beat and thumping, hypnotic rhythms.
    The four founders all flew to Las Vegas to unveil the device at the show.
     “It went amazingly well,” said Daniel Cartledge. “We had prototypes that people were able to use. There was such a great response, and a ton of international media attention.”
    That would have been plenty, but the Nervana also won the competition for a tech start-up in the digital health category.
    “I love the feeling, the actual stimulation going through my ear,” said Daniel Cartledge. “It brings a tactile sensation to the music. It’s very relaxing and it keeps me very focused. I forget about the background thoughts.”
    The comparison to LSD or Ecstasy springs to mind, but Cartledge says sorry — that’s not what happens.
    “No one is hallucinating, but it definitely would have been fun at a Grateful Dead concert.”
    That brings up Nervana’s second mode, which allows the user to pick up ambient music, say, from a concert, and transmit that to the vagus nerve. A third mode produces no sound, just the vagus stimulation.
    Not only did people find Nervana in the vast convention halls of the CES in January, but also emails have been coming in from potential customers who see it as a possible aid to reducing depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
    Once again, the founders are making no medical claims for the Nervana, only promising a pleasant musical experience.
    They are taking orders on their website, www.experiencenervana.com, and include user videos on their “Experience Nervana” page on Facebook. The price is expected to be $299, and delivery should begin in June.


Lona O’Connor has a lifelong interest in health and healthy living. Send column ideas to Lona13@bellsouth.net.