Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
11.1
Introduction
The experimental software setup presented in this article, called MuZICO (french
acronym for Zen Music and Brain Computer Interface), allows the approach of
interactions between music and physiology from two points of view: The
rst, the
low-level one, is based on the soni
cation of physiological signals produced by the
autonomous nervous system, thus creating a direct link between the unconscious
manifestation of a physiological state and the production of acoustic vibrations. The
second point of view, the high-level one, introduces an abstraction layer dealing
with the recognition of vigilance states (vigilance, relaxation, sleep) and/or emo-
tional states of the listener and allows to control the generative music system
parameters in real time according to these states.
Until now MuZICO has been tested with two different devices for physiological
signals capture. The
first is the Thought Technologies ProComp5 in
nity bio-
feedback system, a
five inputs box for various compatible sensors. The following
Thought Technologies sensors have already been used with MuZICO:
abdominal/thoracic breath sensor
skin conductivity sensor
electrocardiograph
electroencephalograph
The other system we are mainly using is an Emotiv EPOC headset, which is a
sixteen electrodes wireless EEG headset. However, the signals coming from this
headset can be analyzed either as EEG signals, or as muscular signals.
In the following sections, we describe the evolution of our work on soni
cation
and interaction between vigilance states and musical synthesis then we propose a
generalization of vigilance states to emotional states and its validation in the context
of a collaboration with experts on emotions expressed by body postures. Finally, we
inspect prospects offered by the synthesis of these experiences for the study of
interactions and retroactions between music, perceived emotions, and physiology.
11.2
Processing of Physiological Signals from the Energetics
Approach
11.2.1 Sonification: Direct Mapping
In our case, soni
is attention and to help him
understand the link between the manifestations of his autonomous nervous system,
usually unintentional, and the music they generate. The energy deployed by the
internal organs and sampled by the sensors is directly translated into sound energy,
thus leading to a synesthesic perception phenomenon.
cation is used to catch the listener
'
