All in the mind – decoding brainwaves to identify the music we are listening to
A new technique for monitoring brain waves can identify the music someone is listening to.
Peer-Reviewed PublicationIMAGE: DR IAN DALY INJECTING CONDUCTIVE GEL INTO AN EEG CAP view more
CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
A new technique for monitoring brain waves can identify the music someone is listening to.
Researchers at the University of Essex hope the project could lead to helping people with severe communication disabilities such as locked-in syndrome or stroke sufferers by decoding language signals within their brains through non-invasive techniques.
Dr Ian Daly, from Essex’s School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering who led the research, said: “This method has many potential applications. We have shown we can decode music, which suggests that we may, one day, be able to decode language from the brain.”
Essex scientists wanted to find a less invasive way of decoding acoustic information from signals in the brain to identify and reconstruct a piece of music someone was listening to.
Whilst there have been successful previous studies monitoring and reconstructing acoustic information from brain waves, many have used more invasive methods such as electrocortiography (ECoG) - which involves placing electrodes inside the skull to monitor the actual surface of the brain.
The research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, used a combination of two non-invasive methods - fMRI, which measures blood flow through the entire brain, and electroencephalogram (EEG), which measures what is happening in the brain in real time - to monitor a person’s brain activity whilst listening to a piece of music. Using a deep learning neural network model, the data was translated to reconstruct and identify the piece of music.
Music is a complex acoustic signal, sharing many similarities with natural language, so the model could potentially be adapted to translate speech. The eventual goal of this strand of research would be to translate thought, which could offer an important aid in the future for people who struggle to communicate, such as those with locked-in syndrome.
Dr Daly added: “One application is brain-computer interfacing (BCI), which provides a communication channel directly between the brain and a computer. Obviously, this is a long way off but eventually we hope that if we can successfully decode language, we can use this to build communication aids, which is another important step towards the ultimate aim of BCI research and could, one day, provide a lifeline for people with severe communication disabilities.”
The research involved the re-use of fMRI and EEG data collected, originally, as part of a previous project at the University of Reading from participants listening to a series of 40-second pieces of simple piano music from a set of 36 pieces which differed in tempo, pitch harmony and rhythm. Using these combined data sets, the model was able to accurately identify the piece of music with a success rate of 71.8%.
JOURNAL
Scientific Reports
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Computational simulation/modeling
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
Neural decoding of music from the EEG
Listener influence in music charts gave rise to genre-crossing artists
ITHACA, N.Y. – New Cornell University research shows how the rise of consumers’ influence changed the tune of contemporary country music and led to the creation of more songs that span multiple genres.
Yuan Shi, assistant professor in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, traces the shift to changes in Billboard magazine’s chart rankings.
“When Billboard charts gave more weight to consumer voice and reflected the market more accurately, they actually changed the market,” said Shi, author of “A Change of Tune: The Democratization of Market Mediation and Crossover Production in the U.S. Commercial Music Industry,” which published in Administrative Science Quarterly.
“The consumption-driven ranking rewarded crossover products because consumers are more open to crossover music than radio stations are,” Shi said.
For decades, radio stations had the power to make or break artists by determining which – and how frequently – songs were played. Billboard magazine’s chart rankings reflected this power, listing top songs based on radio play. However, in 2012, Billboard changed its formula for many music genres to take into account consumption, such as digital downloads, when calculating which songs top the charts.
Country music was one of the genres affected. After the Billboard change, traditional gatekeepers in the country music market – radio stations – lost power, while consumers gained it. This democratization led directly to the success and growth of crossover music: songs that meshed country with elements from other genres, such as pop, hip-hop and rock.
While country crossover artists existed long before this change – think Shania Twain and Garth Brooks – Billboard’s chart updates resulted in a dramatic uptick in this trend.
Using machine learning algorithms to analyze the sonic features of tens of thousands of song recordings, Shi discovered that the new chart inspired artists and their record labels to strategically broaden their audiences by targeting the most lucrative genres. This quickly led to the dominating success of Taylor Swift, Maren Morris, Lil Naz X, Walker Hayes and many other artists whose sound and style depart from traditional country. Rising consumer power altered not just how success is defined in this market, but also which products are now offered.
Shi’s research suggests businesses use caution in the face of new technologies that elevate consumers’ voices. For businesses that create experience goods – such as movies, music, food and lodging – creating crossover products could lead to future growth, while preserving traditional boundaries might ensure the survival of existing products.
“It is clear that in many corners of our society, there is a growing divide between traditional gatekeepers and general consumers,” Shi said. “As new technologies and platforms dilute gatekeepers’ influence and empower consumers, it is more important than ever to appreciate the difference between the two.”
For additional information, see this Cornell Chronicle story.
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JOURNAL
Administrative Science Quarterly
ARTICLE TITLE
A change of tune: The democratization of market mediation and crossover production in the U.S. commercial music industry
USC researchers find music education
Results highlight areas for state legislators and school leaders to consider as they expand music education programs across California
Peer-Reviewed PublicationIMAGE: MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN THE VIRTUAL MIDDLE SCHOOL MUSIC ENRICHMENT (VMSME), AN EXTRACURRICULAR MUSIC EDUCATION PROGRAM SUPPORTED BY THE FENDER PLAY FOUNDATION. (PHOTO/FENDER PLAY FOUNDATION) view more
CREDIT: FENDER PLAY FOUNDATION
The latest USC research on the impact of music education shows that for adolescents, the benefits appear to extend beyond a surge in neural connections in their brains. It actually boosts their wellbeing.
The study published Wednesday by the journal Frontiers In Psychology comes just weeks after voters statewide approved Prop. 28 to increase funding for arts and music education in California public schools.
A USC Thornton School of Music researcher said the results are especially meaningful amid a nationwide mental health crisis.
“We know that the pandemic has taken a toll on student mental health. The many narratives of learning loss that have emerged since the start of the pandemic paint a grim picture of what some call a ‘lost generation’,” said Beatriz Ilari, an associate professor of music education at the USC Thornton School of Music and corresponding author of the study. "Music might be an activity to help students develop skills and competencies, work out their emotions, engage in identity work and strengthen connections to the school and community.”
The work was supported by grants including one from the Fender Play Foundation, a nonprofit organization that places instruments in the hands of youth who aspire to play and reap the powerful benefits of music education.
Evidence of those benefits continues to mount, although many states and school districts have reduced the amount of class time, faculty and curriculum dedicated to the arts amid budget crunches and changes in curriculum standards.
Ilari contributed to prior studies, including a longitudinal one by the USC Brain and Creativity Institute, that demonstrated children who learn a musical instrument have enhanced cognitive function. Other research also has shown music education contributes to improved creativity and confidence, better mental health and emotional stability, and student performance, according to a paper published last year by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Greater hope for the future
For the study, researchers examined the impact of music on “positive youth development,” a measure of the strengths of adolescents and their potential to contribute to society developed by scholars from Tufts University. Researchers also included measures for school connectedness and hopeful future expectations.
The researchers administered anonymous, online surveys to 120 students from 52 Los Angeles Unified School District middle schools. The survey questions covered the key domains of positive youth development including competence and confidence. Past research shows that adolescents who manifest these attributes are more likely to make positive contributions to society and less likely to engage in risky behaviors later in life.
Ilari and her fellow researchers, including USC Thornton alumna Eun Cho, found many positive effects. They found that students who started music education before age 8 were more hopeful about the future, and younger students receiving musical training scored higher in key measures of positive youth development.
The research team also found that younger students scored higher in key development measures than their older peers. Sixth-grade students, for example, scored higher for overall positive youth development than – eighth-graders, and scored higher in the confidence domain than both seventh and eighth-graders. Seventh-grade students also scored higher in overall positive youth development than eighth-graders.
In completing the study’s survey questions, students were invited to choose from multiple gender categories beyond the usual binary gender options, including “non-binary” and “prefer not to answer,” to identify themselves. Non-binary students scored lower in overall positive youth development and connection than girls. They also scored lower in confidence and connection than boys.
“Given the high levels of depression and suicide ideation among LGBTQ+ and non-gender conforming students, it is crucial that research examining adolescent well-being move beyond the gender binary,” Ilari said. “In addition to filling critical gaps in the existing literature, results from our study can be used to inform the development of programs and policy for all young people.”
The study included students of diverse backgrounds. However, students participating in a virtual music education program primarily came from poor neighborhoods, indicating disparities in access to formal music education.
In addition, the study explored students’ engagement in different music programs, including the Virtual Middle School Music Enrichment (VMSME), a tuition-free, extracurricular program that focuses on popular music education and virtual learning. The program is available through a school district partnership with the Fender Play Foundation. Researchers found that students participating in multiple forms of music education and for longer periods of time scored higher in measures for competence and hopeful future expectations. Some participants in these groups were also enrolled in private lessons and/or playing in small ensembles that offer more individual attention than large group classes. In contrast, students in the extracurricular VMSME program came from low-income neighborhoods and participated in fewer extracurricular activities.
“By expanding access to instruments and music classes for students from low socioeconomic areas – a population that is often left out of school music programs – VMSME contributed to the democratization of music education,” Ilari said. “Throughout the pandemic, students in public schools, especially in urban areas, were disproportionately impacted by the lockdowns that deprived them of physical and social contact with peers. VMSME brought together students from different neighborhoods and at a time when forming peer groups is essential to social identity development.”
More research is needed to better understand disparities in access to formal music education, Ilari said, but she said programs that give student agency in their learning and allow them to engage with peers from other schools, like VMSME, have the potential to promote learning and wellbeing.
JOURNAL
Frontiers in Psychology
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Observational study
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
Musical participation and positive youth development in middle school
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
18-Jan-2023
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