Brain Gauge & WAVi EEG: See How Your Brain Is Really Doing
Mental health shows up in everyday life: getting started in the morning, staying focused, tolerating stress, having the energy to take part in your own recovery. Symptoms matter, and so do the measurable patterns in how your brain processes information and responds under load.
Brain Gauge and WAVi EEG measure those patterns at baseline and again whenever a meaningful clinical question comes up, so progress and setbacks become visible instead of guessed at.
"Brain Gauge and WAVi don't diagnose a disorder on their own. What they do is add real, objective data that helps confirm a working diagnosis and, more importantly, helps locate which specific neurobiological drivers are active in you."
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Brain Gauge Performance
You Can Feel, Measured Directly
Structured fingertip-vibration tasks measure the same cortical processing that underlies attention, learning speed, and mental fatigue. Eight domains are reported on a 0-100 scale, scaled to normative values.
WAVi EEG
The Brain's Electrical Response, Tracked Over Time
An EEG and event-related-potential recording during a structured listening task, centered on the P300, the brain's electrical response to a sound that matters, reported as timing and voltage.
What This Is Not
Not a Diagnosis on Its Own
Neither tool diagnoses a condition or decides your treatment by itself. They add objective information to a picture we build together, and we may use one or both depending on the clinical question.
Four Pillars
1
Brain Gauge: Eight Domains, Measured Directly
Brain Gauge uses structured fingertip-vibration tasks to probe how the somatosensory cortex processes information. This is not a proxy measure: the methodology is validated across published cortical-physiology research, including work showing that targeted cortical stimulation measurably changes performance on this same task, evidence that it reflects real, modifiable cortical activity rather than a fixed trait score. Eight domains are reported on a 0-100 scale: Speed, Accuracy, Temporal Order Judgment (TOJ), Time Perception, Plasticity, Fatigue, Focus, and an aggregate Cortical Metric.
2
WAVi: The P300, Timing and Voltage Together
During a structured listening task, the P300 is the brain's electrical response to a sound that matters, reported as Brain Reaction Time (timing, in milliseconds) and Brain Reaction Voltage (magnitude, in microvolts), alongside Physical Reaction Time. We read timing and voltage together because they answer different questions: one can change without the other.
3
WAVi: Rhythm and Executive Fields
The report includes a broader set of fields beyond the P300: regional peak frequency, frontal alpha, theta/beta ratios, Trail Making and Flanker task performance, and waveform and topograph displays, read together to connect executive function to the rest of the clinical picture.
4
Signal Quality Comes First
Every WAVi reading starts with a quality check, because a number is only as good as the data behind it. Flags like Low Yield, Questionable Value, Excess Synchrony, and Sync Blinks tell us when a field needs cautious interpretation or a repeat session. Comparable sessions start with comparable context: sleep, medications, substances, stress, illness, and effort are all documented alongside the data.
What The P300 Reveals In Ptsd And Depression
In PTSD
In a study of 49 people with PTSD compared against 85 people who experienced trauma but did not develop PTSD, a reduced P300 during emotional suppression was specifically associated with avoidance symptoms, while an enhanced P300 was specifically associated with hyperarousal symptoms. That avoidance-versus-hyperarousal distinction helps sharpen a PTSD presentation, information the symptom interview alone doesn't reliably separate out.
In depression
A 2026 systematic review of 52 controlled studies found prolonged P300 latency and reduced amplitude across clinical populations, and in mood disorders specifically, baseline P300 amplitude predicted treatment outcome, with changes appearing within 3 days to 6 weeks of starting treatment, often earlier than symptom scales alone would show a response. In adolescent depression, a reduced P300 during a cognitive-control task distinguished depressed adolescents from healthy controls with 86.5 percent classification accuracy.
The People Behind These Technologies
Brain Gauge, Cortical Metrics
Created by Dr. Mark Tommerdahl, a neurophysiologist in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and co-founder and scientific director of Cortical Metrics. Decades of peer-reviewed work on cortical information processing are the direct foundation for the vibrotactile-discrimination methodology Brain Gauge uses. Learn more at corticalmetrics.com.
WAVi
Created by David Oakley, based in Boulder, Colorado, whose ongoing research program (WAVi Research) is the direct source of the P300 studies cited on this page. His continued publication record keeps the underlying science current rather than static. Learn more at wavimed.com.
The Peak Method: What To Expect
Where Measurement Fits In Your Care
Contexts where these measures are commonly followed include depression and treatment-resistant depression, PTSD and anxiety, ADHD, sleep-wake disruption, addiction recovery, postpartum care, brain fog and cognitive fatigue, cognitive performance, neurocognitive prevention, and ketamine or other neuroplasticity-oriented care. In every case, device data is read beside validated scales, sleep, labs, and function. The devices show the function we're trying to improve; the labs examine the biology shaping it.
F.A.Q.
No. Brain Gauge and WAVi don't diagnose on their own. What they do is help confirm a working diagnosis and help locate which specific neurobiological driver is active in you, layered alongside your history, symptoms, validated scales, and clinical judgment, not a replacement for any of them.
Not necessarily. The two measure different things, cortical processing through touch versus electrical brain response through hearing, and we use one or both depending on the clinical question and your goals.
Typically at baseline and again when a meaningful clinical question arises, for example around a treatment change, so we can compare change against your own starting point.
Sleep, medications and supplements, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol or other substances, stress, illness, fatigue, effort, and technical signal quality can all influence a session. We document these factors so a change reads accurately.
A vendor-calculated aggregate value, a broad snapshot that helps orient the overall conversation. The eight individual Brain Gauge domains show where your performance actually differs and matter more clinically than the single aggregate number.
The brain's electrical response to recognizing a meaningful sound during a listening task. Its timing and voltage give information about processing speed and how much attention is actually being brought online, and published research has repeatedly linked it to real-world cognitive states like post-viral brain fog and post-concussion recovery.
No. Brain Gauge Gym is a training interface, distinct from the standard assessment. We document which session type was used.
Measurement adds a functional layer alongside your symptoms, labs, and function. It helps guide decisions and track change, but your goals, safety, and clinical judgment stay central to every decision.
Josh Swigart, APRN, PMHNP-BC. Measurement-informed, biology-first psychiatry.
Josh Swigart, APRN, PMHNP-BC. Regenerative Psychiatry, Neuroplasticity, Cognitive Performance Medicine. KRI Fellow, A4M ABAAHP Fellow-in-Training, Triple Certified Peptide Therapy, Advanced IVNT Certified, Double Certified Neural Therapy, Koniver Method Clinician.
Make your progress easier to see
If measurement-informed care fits your goals, we can establish a baseline and follow the patterns that matter most to you over time, always beside your symptoms, function, and the rest of your clinical picture.
This page is for general education and is not a diagnosis or a substitute for individualized medical advice. Brain Gauge and WAVi describe performance and electrophysiological patterns within their platforms and are interpreted together with your history, symptoms, validated measures, and function. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, call 911, or go to the nearest emergency department.
