The National Library of Medicine reports that about one in three people suffers from motion sickness. Fortunately, there are effective pills you can take under a doctor's supervision to avoid it. But if you don't want to rely on pills, Samsung has a new solution that can temporarily cure motion sickness.
What exactly causes motion sickness?
Before I talk about the remedy Samsung has created, it's important to understand what exactly causes motion sickness. Research suggests that it likely occurs due to a "mismatch in signals about movement coming from different parts of your body."
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Let me explain with a simple example. When you're traveling in a car and looking out the window, you'll see objects like trees and other vehicles entering and then leaving your line of sight. This sends a signal to your brain that you're moving.
However, since you are sitting inside a car, your inner ear and other parts of your body signal to your brain that you are sitting still. Because different parts of your body are transmitting conflicting signals about your state of movement, your brain experiences a sensory conflict, which ultimately results in motion sickness.
Its symptoms differ among individuals. For instance, some may experience dizziness and extreme sweating, while others may feel nausea and a tendency to vomit.
What's the Samsung answer to motion sickness?
The tech company announced through a blog post yesterday that it is launching a new mobile app called Hearapy (a name that most likely comes from blending "hear" and "therapy") to tackle motion sickness. The app is designed based on findings from Nagoya University in Japan.
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Researchers at the university found in their experiment that listening to a 100 Hz tone can significantly help cure motion sickness. As a result, the Hearapy app plays a 100 Hz sine wave at 75-85 dB, which needs to be listened to for at least one minute before the journey to reduce the chances of experiencing motion sickness symptoms.
Hearing this sound reportedly stimulates the balance system in the inner ear, and the effect can last up to two hours. However, the blog post specifically mentions that "no music or noises should interfere with the sine wave," or it may affect the treatment's effectiveness.
Is it exclusive to Samsung devices?
Samsung's Hearapy app. | Image by PhoneArena
Definitely not! The new Hearapy app isn't available only for Samsung Galaxy smartphones. You can install it on any Android phone (I'm testing it on my Pixel 10).
Samsung mentions the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro throughout the blog post, which may give the impression that the app will only work with these particular wireless earbuds. However, that is not the case, as I have tried it with my Nothing Ear (2), and it works perfectly fine. That said, it displayed a message stating, "Insert your Galaxy Buds so they fit well and you can hear the bass clearly," when used with any other earbuds.
It's possible that the South Korean giant tuned the app specifically for the Buds 4 Pro. But I believe it will work with any headphones or earbuds capable of producing a 100 Hz sine wave.
In fact, you can also have the option to use it without headphones, though I believe this might reduce its effectiveness. There's also a dedicated option to manage playback duration.
Would you trust the Samsung Hearapy app to fix motion sickness?
One more tech-related motion sickness remedy
Not everyone loves taking pills. For them, solutions like this can be truly helpful. Interestingly, Samsung's Hearapy app isn't the only tech-related remedy for motion sickness.
Aman Kumar is a tech news writer with a long-standing passion for smartphones. Aman specializes in everything smartphones, from AI features like Pixel’s Camera Coach to understanding ideal hardware combinations. He loves breaking down complex features in a simple, clear way and hopes manufacturers bring back bold designs like the Nokia N-Gage. When he’s not writing, he’s either gaming on PUBG or talking fitness as a dedicated gym enthusiast.
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