CES 2026: Naox brings brainwave tracking to everyday earbuds
Naox Technologies has just taken the wraps off NAOX WAVE and NAOX LINK at CES 2026. They are two in ear EEG devices that squeeze clinical grade brainwave tracking into something that looks and feels like regular earbuds. The timing matters too, as the NAOX LINK system has also picked up FDA clearance.
Naox Wave is for everyday brain insights
NAOX WAVE is the more consumer friendly side of the lineup. It takes EEG signals and turns them into practical feedback around focus, alertness and relaxation, with an eye on longer term cognitive trends. The in ear sensor works passively, so you just wear the earbuds and get on with your day without having to think about it.
The big idea with WAVE is accessibility. Instead of dumping raw EEG charts on you, the companion app translates everything into simple scores and easy to read trends. The goal is to show how things like sleep, stress and daily habits affect your mental state over time, without requiring any background in brain science.
The system also tries to close the loop between insight and action. Based on what it sees, the platform suggests breathing exercises and music playlists, alongside short educational pieces about performance and mental wellbeing. This content has been developed with input from neuroscience specialists, but it is presented in a way that feels light and usable rather than clinical.
NAOX LINK is a clinical-grade solution for professionals
While WAVE aims at the wellness crowd, NAOX LINK takes the same underlying tech into medical territory and now has FDA clearance to back it up. It is built for clinicians and researchers, delivering real time EEG data from an in ear device that is far more comfortable than the headsets usually used in labs and clinics.
That comfort matters. NAOX LINK is already being looked at for things like early Alzheimer’s research, epilepsy monitoring and brain computer interface testing. Because it sits in an earbud style shell, it stands a better chance of being worn for longer periods and in more natural, everyday settings.
Under the hood, both systems rely on the same proprietary in ear EEG setup developed by Naox. That includes custom conductive eartips, a dedicated analog EEG chip and a miniaturised connector designed specifically for this use case. Naox is also opening the platform up to OEM partners, which hints at a future where true wireless earbuds quietly track brain activity in the background, without the user really thinking about it.
A former Withings CEO is now backing the project
Mathieu Letombe, the former CEO of Withings, is now advising Naox, and that feels like an important signal. He has drawn comparisons between where EEG sits today and where heart rate sensing was before fitness wearables took off. His involvement brings some consumer tech weight to a platform that started life firmly in the clinical world.
It also hints at a broader shift. Optical heart sensors changed how people think about exercise, recovery and daily strain. In ear EEG could end up doing something similar for productivity, stress and cognitive performance, especially if it fades into the background of everyday devices.
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