FAQ

On this page we have put together the answers to the most frequently asked questions that we receive. If you cannot find an answer to your question, please feel free to contact us.

Troubleshooting

Please refer to the manual if you experience any technical issues. You can find the manual in the Brainhero packaging and it is also available for download. If the problem persists, please send us an email at help@brainhero.eu.

 

The therapy

Before your child trains for the first time, you must go through the tutorial yourself and understand how the training works. Then you are well prepared to support your child during the training. You can let your child watch so that he/she can see what is coming.

Tip: Think of a small reward for your child and have it ready when your child has completed the first training session.

The Brainhero therapy consists of 20 hours of neurofeedback training. Instead of having to go to a therapist for these 20 hours, Brainhero allows you to train where it is easiest for everyone involved: at home! It is up to you how long you train at a time. We recommend 3 training units (15 min) every 2 days – that’s 50-60 minutes per week. However, you can also train more than that and more frequently. It is important that you reach 10 hours of training within 3 months in order to benefit from the positive effects of neurofeedback training. After these 10 hours you should also notice the first changes, which will become even more noticeable in the next 10 training hours.

For most children, an improvement in social interaction is noticeable after a total of 10 hours of training. However, it is absolutely necessary that your child trains regularly for several months. We recommend 3 training sessions (15 minutes) every 2 days. The improvements should be noticeable after 2-3 months.

The Brainhero training is also effective in left-handed children.

Medication can continue to be taken during therapy as prescribed by the doctor. Brainhero should be used as part of a therapeutic program and is not a substitute for medication.

Studies show that a certain percentage of people do not respond to neurofeedback, meaning that brain activity does not change despite regular training. If there are no changes, it may be that your child is one of these people (called a “non-responder” in the jargon).

It may also be that your child is not responding to the current training approach in the selected brain regions and a personalized approach would be more suitable for your child (e.g., in a clinic).

Please contact us if you do not notice improvements in certain areas (social interaction, reduced hyperactivity) after a total of 10 hours of training. We will be happy to advise you on the next possible steps.

If the training has been paused for 1-2 weeks, continuation of training should be done daily for 10-15 minutes (2-3 training units per day) until you make up for the missed sessions.

The therapy approaches we use were not associated with any side effects in children with ASD or ADHD.

Similar trainings in healthy adults were associated with headaches, tiredness and mood swings. These effects were short lived and completely ceased after the training.

We designed the training to make it as safe as possible for our patients. The overall training duration is limited. The segments of the training that could be associated with side effects have been reduced in duration. Potentially harmful visual stimuli (e.g. flickering) are deliberately avoided in the app.

If your child experiences serious medical incidents (such as seizures), contact a doctor immediately, stop the training and please report to the Brainhero Care Team. Additionally, the incident will be forwarded to the responsible public health authority. Any possible connection with the training will be investigated. Our highest priority is to maintain and continuously improve the high standard of safety for our patients.

help@brainhero.eu or +43 (0) 1 997 42 94

To help identify any problems, please also always note their occurrence (“What happened?”), intensity (“How severe was it?”) and duration (“How long did it last?”), e.g. “Headache, mild, until 30 minutes after end of training”.

Up to 30% of children with ASD will be diagnosed with epilepsy before becoming adults. This is true whether they are in therapy or not. Epilepsy is an exclusion criteria for the therapy with Brainhero. The training might not be safe for patients with autism that already have an epilepsy diagnosis. Read more here.

If your child experiences an epileptic seizure, contact a doctor immediately, stop the training and please report it to the Brainhero Care Team.

Additionally, the incident will be forwarded to the responsible public health authority. Any connection with the training will be investigated. Our highest priority is to maintain and continuously improve the high standard of safety for our patients.

help@brainhero.eu or +43 (0) 1 997 42 94

We often get requests whether relatives and friends can also try out the Brainhero training. To make this possible, we have set up the guest profile.

If someone would like to try out the training, please note:

  • Be sure to use the guest profile

  • Limit the trial to a few attempts

If someone uses the profile of the training child, the training records and the training duration so far will be falsified.

The device is rented together with a training protocol that is only suitable for patients with a specific diagnosis. The design of the headset and the parameters for training may be completely different for other disorders. Therefore, healthy individuals and individuals with a different diagnosis than the patient should not train with the guest profile for more than a total of 120 minutes (approximately 24 training sessions) over the entire rental period; and no more than a total of 30 minutes in 7 days.

If someone else would like to train who also has a neurological disorder, we strongly recommend contacting us to make sure that the training does not have any negative effects.

With the update of the app on March 22nd, 2023 the training duration of the individual units was adjusted from 4:40min to 5:00min. So the 20h therapy (which remains the same for everyone) is now divided into 240 units, instead of 257 units before. All those who ordered before March 22nd, 2023 will continue to train with 4:40 min per training unit until the end.

Difficulties during training

Everyone has to figure out their own strategy to control the hero – that is the goal of the training! This might not be easy at the beginning of the training, because every brain reacts differently. So try different strategies to find out what works for you. With repeated training, your brain will unconsciously develop a strategy to move the hero in the given direction. You will find that over time you will get better and better at it. If you need inspiration for strategies on how to control the character, check out our tips and tricks page.

Remember: It is SUPPOSED to be difficult!

Sometimes children refuse to wear the headband or absolutely do not want to train for other reasons. In this case, contact us within the first month and we will give you a full refund.

Since the EEG device that measures brain waves is worn on the head, we unfortunately have to assume that your child will not tolerate the EEG device either and therefore cannot train with Brainhero.

Scope of the package

The magnetbox contains the EEG device “Orbit”, a headband in Small, Medium or Large (depending on your order), a power adapter to charge the EEG, 4 x 9ml saline solution, a separator to separate the EEG device from the headband, an instruction manual (German/English) and a Quickstart Guide. Please note that the EEG device and its components (except the print products) are loaned devices that have to be returned after the therapy. You will have to leave a deposit with us, which you will get back when you return the device. So take good care of it!

“Orbit” is the name of our EEG device that is provided for the duration of the therapy. It was developed and manufactured by us (Brainhero GmbH). With the help of the headband, the device sits on the head and measures brain activity through several electrodes that are attached to the ears or touch the scalp.

The app

Unfortunately, the Brainhero app is currently only available for tablets (Android and iPad).

ONLY the child is allowed to train with the child’s profile, otherwise the training data will be falsified and we will no longer know how long your child has been training. Be sure to use the guest profile if you want to try out the training yourself.

Shipping

The therapy is currently available in Germany and Austria.

The shipping costs are already included in the price. However, the price of the return can only be refunded if you send us proof of shippment (by email to help@brainhero.eu).

Renting, deposit and return

Our EEG devices and their components are rental devices, as this allows us to offer the therapy at a lower price. Furthermore, this way we contribute to environmental protection. When the devices come back after a therapy, they are cleaned by us, subjected to a strict control and, if necessary, repaired. Only when everything meets our high quality standards can the next family start training.

After the therapy, you send the EEG device incl. headband, power adapter and separator back to Brainhero GmbH, Fuchsthallergasse 2/10, 1090 Vienna. It is best to put the EEG device back in its original packaging after each use so that nothing gets broken. We will refund the return costs together with the deposit if you send the receipt to help@brainhero.eu.

Please do not return the therapy plan for data protection reasons.

Please make sure that you store and pack the equipment well protected so that it does not get broken. Please follow the storage instructions in the user manual.

To ensure that the EEG device (incl. headband) and the power adapter are not damaged during return shipment, pack them in sufficiently shock-absorbent material (e.g. bubble wrap) and use a sturdy shipping box. Make sure you do not use any filling material that could stain the surface of the equipment (e.g. newspaper).

Once we have received the goods and checked that they are complete and in good working order, we will refund the deposit using the original payment method. You can find more information about this in our Terms and Conditions.

Problems with the device

If the EEG device arrives defective or has been damaged for other reasons, it must no longer be used for safety reasons. In this case, please contact the Brainhero Care Team: help@brainhero.eu or +43 (0) 1 997 42 94.

If the headband does not fit your child, please contact the Brainhero Care Team (help@brainhero.eu) to arrange for an exchange. The headband is available in 3 sizes: Small, Medium, Large.

Saline solution

In order for the electrodes to measure brain activity, they need good contact with the skin. The saline solution helps to make this contact.

You can buy new saline solutions at the pharmacy. You can also make them yourself. Mix 9 grams of salt and 1 litre of water. If you want to make less than 1 litre, just use less salt, e.g. 4.5 grams of salt to half a litre of water.

General

CE certified means that our EEG device together with the app has been verified as a medical device according to the EU standards and the Medical Device Regulation and may be sold as a therapy for autism and/or ADHD. The CE mark shows conformity with the EU standards and the Medical Device Regulation, so that the safety of the patients can be guaranteed in the long term.

Currently we only accept payment in advance by bank transfer. We are working on offering more payment options soon.

You can easily change your consents in your profile. To do so, log in to our website. You will then see your consents in the top bar under “Settings and consents”. Please note that you cannot change the mandatory consents (marked with an asterisk). These consents are required to provide you with our services. If you wish to revoke the mandatory consents and stop using Brainhero, please contact our Brainhero Care Team to cancel the service agreement: help@brainhero.eu

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