Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
10.1
Introduction
Articles on brain
computer music interfacing (BCMI) research often open with a
sentiment on how far away we are from the science
-
fiction like dreams of thought
explicitly controlling computers. However, the ongoing progress in this
eld in the
last decade alone indicates that this is becoming reality; we are not as far away from
such dreams as people tend to think.
In a climate where science and technology have the ability to translate primitive
emotional states of the brain, develop brain
computer interfacing (BCI) for precise
control of machinery and allow for non-speaking persons to communicate by means
of brain signals
-
mediated by brain scanning technology, it is easy
to become enthused about the potentials within neuroscience, especially when
applied to the arts (Miranda
2006
).
The possibility of BCI for direct communication and control was
—
or brainwaves
—
first seriously
investigated in the early 1970s, and the notion of making music with brainwaves
(turning BCI into BCMI) is not new. Musicians and composers have been using
brainwaves in music for almost the last 50 years. Instrumental in this were a number
of highly innovative people, the work of which is discussed in this chapter. This
period re
ected a signi
cant trend towards interdisciplinary practices within the arts
in
uenced by experimental and avant-garde artists of the time and a growing
engagement with eastern music and philosophies by those in this
field. It is fair to
say that brainwaves in music were initially explored by experimental composers,
and the area has been pioneered by a number of notable non-traditional composers
and technologists since, and this is re
ected in the wide range of applications and
research that has been undertaken over the last decade and a half.
Over the last twenty or so years, the world of computer music has been waiting
for technology to interpret brainwave information in order to develop BCMI sys-
tems. Equipment costs, portability, signal analysis techniques and computing power
has rapidly improved over recent times, alongside a deeper understanding of how
the brain functions. Now that the line between these two areas is narrowing the
playing
flourish together.
Brainwaves have long been considered to be one of the most challenging of bio-
logical signals from the human body (known as bio-signals) to harness, and
beginning to understand them through music and sound offers clinical as well as
creative rewards; for instance, BCMI systems are bound to bene
field is becoming much larger enabling the two to
t music therapy.
This chapter focuses on the pressing problem of mapping EEG information into
sonic and musical forms. That is, on how to use EEG to control algorithms for
synthesising sound or to produce music. A number of mapping methods that have
been devised to date are introduced. As we shall see further on, there are a number
of different approaches to making music with EEG and the choice of which to use is
dependent on the overall objectives of the system.
