When Music Heals: Inside GOGIA, Dani Valkova’s Venture Tackling the Dopamine Crisis
- Dominic Borkelmans
- Sep 16
- 6 min read
When Dani Valkova was performing in packed clubs as a touring DJ, she saw firsthand how sound could shift a person’s state of mind. Now, she’s channeling that insight into GOGIA, a stealth neurotech venture aiming to rewire the brain through audio and visuals. Over the last six months, she’s been transforming the tools she once crafted for entertainment into ones designed to support cognitive health.
Sound, as Dani knows deeply, doesn’t just pass through the ears and into the auditory cortex. It moves through a distributed network of brain centers, activating systems involved in emotion, movement, attention, and reward. Music, the structured weaving of sound into harmony and rhythm, stimulates regions from the limbic system to the basal ganglia and the motor cortex. And while most already associate it with changes mood and emotion, a growing body of research indicates that music can do much more: it can reshape the brain.
From DJ to neurotech founder
Dani started her first company as a teenager in Queensland, Australia, showing an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, but soon chose to leave it behind and enroll in law school. Quickly, she realized that the legal world was far too dry for her. In the evenings, instead of reading case law, she taught herself how to DJ and produce electronic music. By the time she graduated, she had secured residencies at some of Australia’s biggest clubs and signed a record deal.
Seven years in the artist lifestyle showed her firsthand the powerful effect music can have on people. When combined with immersive visuals, she watched her audiences arrive buzzing with anticipation and leave visibly transformed. Creating those kinds of moments became her specialty. Dani went on to lead the audio department at a prominent London studio, where she honed her ability to merge sound and technology in ways that seemed to activate hidden networks in the listener’s brain.
But while it was easy to monetize these skills in entertainment and advertising, Dani felt unfulfilled by the impact she was making. Alongside her professional projects, she began experimenting with prototypes of audio-visual experiences that weren’t designed to entertain or persuade, but to explore how sound and visuals could support people in their everyday lives, offering moments of calm, reflection, and focus.
“The fact that I didn’t come from a medical or science background was what set me apart and allowed me to see an opportunity from a fresh perspective.”
After testing her early prototypes with a few close friends and seeing promising results, she realized she had tapped into something largely underexplored. Without formal training in medicine or neuroscience, she relied on her creative instincts and deep audio expertise to make a bold move: leaving behind a promising career to launch a venture focused on using sound and visuals designed to support people’s daily challenges with attention and stress
Dani Valkova's ambitious goal at GOGIA
Earlier this year, Dani joined the Reaktor accelerator in Berlin to begin developing GOGIA, a direct-to-consumer application designed to help those who struggle with focus optimize their cognitive performance. For now, the team is testing a range of adaptive audio and visual techniques to explore their potential effects on neuroplasticity.
Like any wise entrepreneur, Dani starts with the customer. Together with a scientific advisory team that ensures every solution is grounded in established neuroscience, they’ve been mapping out real pain points across a typical user’s day, and identifying where GOGIA can make the biggest difference. Unsurprisingly, this search has led them to focus on what Dani calls the dopamine crisis.
The devices we use daily are filled with apps that appear to be free. But as the saying goes: if something is free, you are the product. Social media platforms are built around algorithms designed to keep us hooked. While most of us now struggle with compulsive digital habits, there are specific groups in society that are especially vulnerable. With dopamine regulation already fragile, the consequences of addictive mobile interfaces can be even more severe.
“One thing that is apparent in the way technology is progressing is, we are going through a dopamine crisis.”
Dani’s aim is to return power to those who feel particularly affected by this dopamine imbalance, using the same medium that currently causes them a lot of harm. GOGIA remains in full stealth mode, and details about the final product are still under wraps. But their main goal is clear: to support users in exploring focus and a sense of inner calm. And that journey starts by becoming comfortable with boredom.
“We don’t give ourselves permission to feel bored in today’s world,” Dani says. “Anytime we feel bored, we just swipe. But actually training ourselves to feel the discomfort of boredom, to sit in that stillness and silence, is how we begin to detox from a dopamine problem.”
GOGIA integrates a range of science-based modalities, including cognitive training, adaptive lighting, and, of course, psycho-acoustics to help people develop healthier focus and attention patterns when refraining from using their phone. The current version of the app is being tested with a closed group of early adopters. A waitlist is open for broader beta testing, scheduled to begin later this year.
Audio, neuroplasticity, and the ability to focus
While audio-based tools are still emerging in neurotech, GOGIA’s approach is grounded in a growing body of research into how sound shapes the brain. Of particular interest are the studies that suggest music can drive neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to rewire itself in response to experience. This mechanism sits at the heart of GOGIA’s ambition: using adaptive audio to support long-term cognitive change.
A 2025 review by Zatorre et al. outlined several of the mechanisms underlying this neuroplasticity effect. They found that music exposure increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), particularly in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, regions central to learning and memory, thereby supporting synaptic plasticity. The review also noted that listening to emotionally engaging or rhythmically complex music boosts dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens, a key node in the brain’s reward system, enhancing both motivation and attentional focus.
A systematic review by Saville et al. found that many people instinctively turn to music as a tool to manage focus, mood, and arousal. Building on this instinctive use, researchers have explored more structured interventions, many of which show moderate improvements in attention and impulse control. Particularly relevant to GOGIA’s approach, the review highlighted evidence that specific types of music can modulate brain oscillations, potentially enhancing executive function by entraining underactive neural rhythms.
Taken together, these reviews provide early evidence that music could potentially influence brain function, particularly in people with attentional challenges. Dani’s goal of enhancing focus and cognitive performance will likely hinge on GOGIA’s ability to stimulate neuroplasticity and target the right oscillatory patterns. While the scientific foundation is promising, it remains in its early stages, and outcomes can vary significantly across individuals. To achieve meaningful and lasting impact, Dani will need to ensure that GOGIA is thoughtfully designed and grounded in scientific evidence.
Sparking an audio revolution in brain health
Dani sees great potential in using the same technology that causes harm, our mobile phones filled with addictive apps, to instead drive healing. “The same fire that keeps you warm in winter is the same fire that can burn you alive,” she says. “Technology is that fire. Yes, it has the power to take away, but it also has the power to heal us and transform us.”
This philosophy reflects a broader vision of turning the smartphone from a source of distraction into a tool for restoration. Dani is optimistic about a future in which everyday technology becomes a force for healing rather than harm. With GOGIA, she hopes to do so through audio. “It’s inevitable that audio has the potential to change the human brain,” she says. “Now, thanks to new technology, we finally have the opportunity to do that at scale.”
About the Founder
Dani Valkova is the Founder and CEO of GOGIA. She has led audio on over 60 projects for companies like Google, Apple, Meta, and Netflix, and is known for her expertise in psychoacoustics, adaptive sound, and immersive media. With a background spanning electronic music, sound UX, and emerging tech, she now focuses on building tools that use audio to support mental wellbeing.
Visit: www.danivalkova.com
About the Firm
GOGIA is a Berlin-based neurotech startup developing a direct-to-consumer app that combines adaptive audio, adaptive lighting, and cognitive science to help users navigate everyday challenges such as emotional overwhelm and difficulties with focus and attention. Currently in stealth with closed beta tests underway, the company is now opening a waitlist for broader beta testing later this year. Their vision: a new future for neurotech that is immersive, adaptive, and accessible to as many people as possible.
Dani has requested the following disclaimer to be included: GOGIA is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. GOGIA has not been evaluated or cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), or any other regulatory authority.
Visit: https://gogialabs.com/home
