Self-Managed Stress Reduction and Burnout Prevention Through Personalised Auditory-Visual Brainwave Entrainment: A Real-World Living Lab Pilot

NeuroBright Ltd is a Scottish digital health company developing The ONE® device, a lightweight wearable headset using synchronised light and sound at precise frequencies to produce brainwave entrainment effects, guiding the brain towards relaxed, restorative states. Users personalise each session by selecting from preset stimulation sequences, choosing their own music via the companion app, and calibrating brightness individually.

The device is supported by a peer-reviewed neurological validation study (TU Ilmenau, 2022, p=0.001) and three real-world workplace trials, two at Burness Paull law firm, Edinburgh and Glasgow (N=11, 4 weeks) and one at Johnson & Carmichael accountancy (N=5, 3 weeks), all showing consistent improvements in stress management, sleep quality, workload management, and mood.

WHAT THIS PILOT INVOLVES

This 3-week pilot extends that evidence base into a Living Lab setting, measuring the device's impact on stress and burnout risk in healthcare workers and health-adjacent professionals.

Week 1: Remote onboarding via video call. Devices shipped in advance. Participants complete baseline stress and sleep quality assessments digitally. NeuroBright guides participants through setup, sequence selection, and brightness calibration. Week 2: Independent home use (4-5 sessions per week, 10-15 minutes each). Participants self-select sequences, music, and brightness. Mid-point check-in administered directly by NeuroBright. Week 3: Continued independent use. Post-pilot assessments and exit questionnaire. Final Pilot Report delivered by NeuroBright.

WHAT WE ASK OF THE LIVING LAB

Recruit 8-10 adult participants, ideally including healthcare workers or health-adjacent professionals. Receive and distribute devices shipped from NeuroBright ahead of Week 1. Provide a space and video conferencing facility for the Week 1 remote onboarding session. Provide a named point of contact for the duration of the pilot. Support local data protection and ethics requirements. Issue written confirmation that the pilot can be hosted.

NeuroBright provides all devices, questionnaires, consent forms, participant protocols, remote support, data analysis, and the final Pilot Report. No funding, equipment, or clinical responsibility is required from the testbed.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Measurable reduction in self-reported stress scores (PSS-10) from baseline to end of pilot. Improvement in self-reported sleep quality. Session completion rate of 80% or above, demonstrating engagement and acceptability. Qualitative evidence of perceived benefit in managing work-related stress and burnout risk. Real-world data extending workplace trial evidence into a healthcare professional population.

RELEVANCE TO UNITE CHALLENGES

Challenge 2 (Personalised remote care): The ONE® device empowers individuals to self-manage stress and wellbeing independently, selecting sequences, music, and brightness to suit their needs, without clinical supervision or prescription. The supervised-then-home-use model directly demonstrates the remote care transition Challenge 2 calls for.

Challenge 4 (Healthcare workforce crisis): Burnout is the primary driver of workforce attrition across European healthcare systems. The Burness Paull and Johnson & Carmichael trials provide precedent evidence from high-stress professional environments directly analogous to healthcare work. Recruiting healthcare staff at the Living Lab tests the intervention in the target population.

TRL level: 6+ Company: NeuroBright Ltd, Scotland, United Kingdom