Music Is All in the Mind
From: Nature - 03/18/2011
By: Philip Ball

University of Plymouth composer and computer-music specialist Eduardo Miranda
worked with computer scientists at the University of Essex to create a
computer-music system that disabled users can control with their brain. The
system uses electroencephalography (EEG) to detect the electrical impulses of
neurons that could help people with severe physical disabilities to create
music for recreational or therapeutic purposes. "This is an interesting
avenue, and might be very useful for patients," says Maastricht University
neuroscientist Rainer Goebel. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) rely on the
user's ability to learn how to self-induce certain mental states that
brain-scanning technologies can detect. Users need to be taught how to
associate certain brain signals with different tasks, which will result in a
specific pattern in the EEG signal. For instance, the researchers can show
users flashing buttons on a computer screen, which the users can push by
focusing their attention on it. "When I realized the potential of a musical
BCI for the well-being of severely disabled people, I couldn't leave the idea
alone," Miranda says. "Now I can't separate this work from my activities as a
composer." 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110318/full/news.2011.113.html

Links:
Eduardo Miranda
http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/emiranda

Mental ping-pong could aid paraplegics
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040827/full/news040823-18.html

Brain-Computer Music Interfacing
http://mmd.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/02/28/1943862111399290