Reach maximum relaxation with headphones that will also massage your ears

Throwing on your headphones and zoning out to your tunes has always been a reliable method of relaxation, but what if your headphones just massaged your ears instead?

NIRVANA is a “personal ear acupressure device” that aims to melt your stress away by prodding your ears with plastic pins. The company is currently aiming to raise $20,000 through Kickstarter and have received kudos from The World Health Organization (WHO) for their unique auricular acupuncture design.

In an informational video about how the gadget works, a narrator walks through a bunch of anatomical terms such as “vagus nerve”, “autonomic nervous system” and “parasympathetic system.” Skipping past all the science jargon, the clunky and extremely unstylish headphones are essentially meant to “manage your body rhythms” and reduce stress through the practice of acupressure.

While the specs of the device show a volume control and appears to have some sort of display built in, we soon realized that the contraption does not even play music while it pokes and jabs your ears. So what seems more relaxing: throwing on this rotund and klutzy head massager or sticking to your headphones and simply listening to your favorite tracks? We'll let you be the judge, but the later is the obvious choice. We might be convinced if the curious gizmo had some music capability (and wasn't the same size as a helmet).

Check out the massage apparatus for yourself by going to NIRVANA’s Kickstarter here.

Cameron is Mixmag's US Editorial Intern. Follow him on Twitter here