MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 9, 2026--
NextSense, a pioneer in brain-sensing wearable technology, today announced the official launch and commercial shipping of NextSense Smartbuds. Unlike sleep trackers that only monitor, Smartbuds use six EEG sensors to measure brain activity in real time — then respond with precisely timed audio stimulation to guide the brain into deeper, more restorative sleep.
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By transforming EEG from a clinical tool into an effortless consumer experience, NextSense redefines sleep from passive tracking to active, brain-responsive intervention, setting a new standard for intelligent wearables and making brain health as accessible and actionable as heart rate or steps.
“Sleep shapes how we show up in the world. Yet for too long, technology has treated it like a score to track instead of a state to support,” said Jonathan Berent, CEO and founder of NextSense. “We built Smartbuds to give people what they actually want and need: better rest. By responding to real-time brain dynamics, Smartbuds go beyond passive monitoring to actively improve sleep, unlocking true recovery.”
Solving the Sleep Crisis with Closed-Loop Intervention
The sleep economy is valued at $585 billion, yet 65% of Americans struggle with sleep, and nearly 70 million live with chronic sleep disorders. Poor sleep is linked to cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, and reduced daily performance.
For NextSense founder & CEO Jonathan Berent, the gap between what people need and what current tools deliver became impossible to ignore. After receiving an AFib alert from his smartwatch, he realized consumers could get meaningful, real-time information about their heart, but virtually nothing about their brain. That insight led him to leave Alphabet’s X, where he was working on sleep and computing research, and build NextSense to make brain-based insights as accessible as step counts or heart rate.
NextSense Smartbuds are built to close the gap between passive sleep tracking and active intervention.
Unlike trackers that infer sleep from motion or heart rate, Smartbuds use six electroencephalography (EEG) sensors, the gold standard for measuring brain activity, to detect when users are entering light sleep, deep sleep, or drifting awake in milliseconds. Smartbuds then deliver precisely timed sound frequencies designed to strengthen deep sleep, the phase most closely tied to recovery, memory consolidation, and next-day alertness. Over time, Smartbuds learn individual patterns, allowing nightly optimization and personalization based on a user’s own neural rhythms. By bringing EEG from the research lab into a comfortable wireless earbud, NextSense offers users immediate access to a level of insight and intervention previously limited to medical environments.
Proven Performance and Early Acclaim
Early data shows Smartbuds deliver meaningful improvements in sleep quality for everyday users. In a controlled beta testing period over 106 nights, Smartbuds were shown to increase slow-wave activity. Additionally, nearly 50% of participants reported having "better" or "much better" sleep and improved morning recovery. Users also rated Smartbuds highly for comfort and audio quality, with 69% of those familiar with earbuds calling the sound superior. Across multiple beta cohorts, NextSense has collected over 1,000 nights of real-world EEG data, making it one of the largest in-ear sleep datasets outside a controlled study.
Early commercial interest has mirrored these results, with Smartbuds already earning industry recognition. Accolades include being named USA Today’s Top Picks for CES 2026, a finalist in Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech 2023, recognition from WIRED and the World Economic Forum, among others.
NextSense Smartbuds: Technology and Access
NextSense Smartbuds retail for $399.99 with a limited-time Early Bird launch price of $249. This includes a Fit Kit subscription: fresh ear tips and wings delivered monthly to maintain clinical-grade EEG signal quality. The first three months are included free, then $14.99/month, and you can manage, pause, or cancel at any time. Smartbuds require an iPhone 12 or newer running iOS 17 or later. NextSense Smartbuds are now available for purchase at nextsense.io
Imagery of NextSense Smartbuds here.
About NextSense
Mountain View, CA-based NextSense is a consumer health and wellness company democratizing access to improved brain health through proprietary in-ear EEG sensor technology. After years of medical research and clinical testing, NextSense brings to market a first-of-its-kind bio-sensing smart earbud for daytime and nighttime use. Designed to monitor brainwaves for alertness, energy, and enhanced sleep, NextSense’s technology delivers unparalleled neural insights that restore energy, joy, and purpose to users' daily lives. Connect with NextSense on Instagram, X, and LinkedIn.
NextSense Smartbuds
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing a battle to stay in post as he comes under heavy criticism for his decision in 2024 to appoint veteran politician Peter Mandelson as the British ambassador to the U.S. despite the latter's ties to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer’s judgment is in the spotlight like never before after the recent release of millions of pages of Epstein-related documents by the U.S. Justice Department showed how close Mandelson and Epstein were.
There’s widespread anger that the prime minister appointed Mandelson, long a key figure of Starmer's own Labour Party, to such a sensitive and high-profile post.
Starmer fired Mandelson in September after an earlier batch of emails was published showing he remained friends with Epstein after the late financier’s 2008 conviction for sex offenses involving a minor.
But the newly released emails show that Mandelson also passed on sensitive — and potentially market-moving — government information to the disgraced financier in 2009, when he was a member of the Labour Cabinet.
Starmer’s leadership has now been called into question, and several Labour lawmakers have called for him to quit. His chief of staff resigned on Sunday, taking the blame for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson, and his communications director quit on Monday.
Many believe that is not enough to keep Starmer in the job.
The prime minister is trying to persuade his party members to back him. He has apologized to the British public and to the victims of Epstein’s sex trafficking for believing what he has termed “Mandelson’s lies.”
There are a number of ways in which Starmer could go, some more straightforward than others.
The simplest option is that Starmer announces his intention to resign, triggering an election for the Labour leadership. A resignation could possibly come if a delegation of Cabinet members tell Starmer he has lost too much support within the party or if members of his government quit in protest.
Those considered to harbor leadership ambitions include Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and former deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, who had to resign last year after admitting she didn’t pay enough tax on a house purchase. An investigation into that is ongoing.
But there's no clear front-runner.
Andy Burnham, the popular mayor of Manchester who was blocked from standing at a special election in the city later this month, would not be eligible because by longstanding convention the prime minister must be a member of Parliament.
Whoever does run, the election would likely take weeks, with Starmer likely staying in post until that concludes.
If Starmer decides to resign immediately, the Cabinet and Labour’s governing body would likely pick an interim leader to be prime minister, probably someone not standing to be Labour leader. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy could fit the bill.
Under Labour’s rules, candidates must have the support of a fifth of party lawmakers — about 80.
The wider party membership would then vote to choose a winner.
King Charles III would invite the winner to become prime minister and form a government.
If Starmer does not resign, he could face a challenge, potentially from within his Cabinet.
Unlike the Conservative Party, which has a history of getting rid of leaders such as Margaret Thatcher in 1990 and Boris Johnson in 2022, Labour does not have that muscle memory. No Labour prime minister has ever been dislodged, though Tony Blair announced his plan to resign in 2007 after a series of low-level resignations.
Challengers would have to meet the eligibility thresholds above, but Starmer would automatically be on the ballot.
Starmer faces a series of hurdles in the weeks ahead. The first will probably be when files related to the vetting of Mandelson are published. Starmer will be hoping they show the scale of Mandelson’s lies. Should they not, that could be a point of high jeopardy for the prime minister.
Another potential pitfall could be the special election in Gorton and Denton on Feb. 26, traditionally a safe Labour seat. However, this time it will be a tough fight, with challenges from the anti-immigration Reform U.K. on the right and the Greens on the left.
After that comes a raft of elections in May. Many in Labour fear the party could lose power in Wales for the first time since the legislature was created in 1999, fall way short in Scotland and get battered in local elections in England.
It's clear that Starmer faces a difficult landscape.
And that’s barring surprise developments that could further rock his premiership.
“Events, dear boy, events,” Harold Macmillan, prime minister between 1957 and 1963, said when asked what the greatest challenges for leaders were.
FILE - President Donald Trump, left, gets a reaction from Britian's ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson, right, as they take questions from members of the media after announcing a trade deal between U.S. and U.K. in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, file)
FILE - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, talks with Britain's ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador's residence on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 in Washington. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP, file)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, England, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (Peter Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer adjusts his glasses as he waits to deliver his speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, England, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (Peter Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer talks with members of the audience after delivering a speech at Horntye Park Sports Complex in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, England, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (Peter Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP)
