Neurofeedback Review: The Vilistus System
A quick note before we start: I have no financial connection to the company behind the system reviewed here. Vilistus was developed by Stephen Clark over in the UK, and I've been running it here in Washington, DC. Of the low-cost EEG setups I've put through their paces, this one sits near the top. What earns it that spot is the math on price versus capability. Vilistus offers an 8-channel EEG amplifier for less than $1,500. Most other makers will charge $4,000 or more and still only hand you 4 to 6 channels.
If you looked at a photo of the amplifier and counted only four ports, you'd be right to wonder where the other channels come from. They come from a dual-channel sensor system that Vilistus built in-house. Each sensor carries two channels, which doubles the device's effective capacity. The sensors run roughly $200 apiece.
This is a tiny operation, close to a one-person shop, but the people writing the hardware and software keep pushing the amplifier's reach. It now talks to Zukor's software for multimedia and video-game-style training, and it also runs the company's own Vilistus Pro package. Vilistus Pro handles basic data analysis well enough. The training side, though, isn't at a clinical level yet. When you cross a single threshold you get a simple beep, and a beep doesn't add up to a rich multimedia session.
The Zukor side is where the games come in. One of those titles can be hooked up to the Vilistus hardware for an upgrade of around $400, which opens the door to more engaging feedback than the stock beeps allow.
Now the rough edges. As a starter system for someone practicing in DC, Vilistus does the job: it renders clean data and runs basic training sessions for a small fraction of what competitors ask. The price is about as low as it gets, and the core features still work. Power comes from two AA batteries, so the amplifier won't run off a computer on its own. Getting those batteries seated is its own small ordeal. You press and the plastic shell flexes enough that you start worrying about cracking it and knocking the circuit board loose. On the plus side, support hasn't gone quiet. The team keeps answering questions and keeps adding to the feature set. As of 2017 I wouldn't call it clinical grade, but the EEG data it produces is clean, and you get a choice of software to pair with it.
The larger project here, Neurofeedback in Washington, DC, exists to build awareness of the practice for people in the District and well past it. The audience is global. The idea is to give people a place to gather and learn about a still-young method for watching, recording, and training the brain's electrical rhythms. The patterns we work with are Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Theta, and Delta. People living and working around DC tend to be drawn to this, since the whole approach is built to carry a worldwide audience into the 21st century.
Most people come looking for a fix to a specific problem. That turns out to be hard, and not because the equipment fails. It's because the underlying skills aren't there yet, the mental habits that let you hold your attention, steer your emotional state, and drop into deep calm or climb to a peak of energy whenever you decide to. That's why I point people toward Mindfulness, Meditation, and Neuro-Training before anything else.