Samsung’s new app claims to alleviate motion sickness using sound

The functionality of the application is very simple. It broadcasts a low 100 Hz sine wave tone through a pair of connected headphones for 60 seconds. This is believed to stimulate the vestibular system – the parts of the inner ear that are responsible for orientation and maintaining balance. The app allows you to adjust the duration of the tone between 40 and 120 seconds, but a full minute of listening is supposed to relieve motion sickness symptoms like nausea for up to two hours. This can be repeated if necessary.

Samsung says the app was inspired by research conducted by Nagoya University in Japan, published last year, which found that specific sound wavelengths helped reduce “the surprise and discomfort felt by people asked to read a document in a moving vehicle.” This is not a guaranteed cure, however, and effectiveness may vary depending on the headphones you use. Samsung recommends pairing the app with its Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, but while Hearapy works with most headphones or earphones, they need to be able to reproduce the tone at a volume level of 80 to 85 decibels for it to be most effective.