Audible emotions Music composed of emotions

Australian researchers compose symphony of emotions

10/09/2012

Australian scientists have been able to harness the signals of the brain in certain emotions „eavesdrop“ and turn it into sounds by computer. In the end, through the different emotions, a veritable symphony of emotions can be generated, reports the University of Western Sydney, where the experiments were conducted.

The scientists around the neurophysiologist Vaughan Macefield from the University of Western Sydney (UWS) have in the course of their investigations, the nerve impulses of actor Ben Schultz using certain emotions turned into sounds. Patients who have difficulty expressing their feelings, such as autistic individuals, could benefit from translating their emotions into music based on the novel method, Australian researchers hope.

Generated impulse from the nerves
With the help of a needle in the leg of the 27-year-old actor, the Australian researchers were able to eavesdrop on the electrical impulses that Ben Schultz's brain emitted when viewing a series of pictures with photos of violence, mutilation and even eroticism. Reacted Schultz with emotion, this was on the monitors, with which the subject was connected by means of countless cables, readable and a microphone recorded the nerve-generated sound. The Canadian singer and audio artist Erin Gee, who also participated in the experiment, sounded the sounds from small boxes in the test rooms and collected the material to transform the emotions of the actor electronically „feeling Symphony“ To compose.

Help for patients with emotional disorders
Gee not only stored the nerve signals, but also the data of other medical parameters such as blood pressure, respiratory rate, heart activity and sweating. With special software, she then converts the data into one „Chorus of gongs and bells“ um, so the message of the UWS. Although we can „Do not read Ben's thoughts and tell you why he feels certain“, but the new technology clearly proves that the feelings of Ben Schultz exist and enable to determine, „how much he feels“, explained Erin Gee. Study leader Vaughan Macefield added that research in the field „Affective Computing“ (Feeling informatics) is to be settled. Here, machines are to be enabled to perceive, interpret and respond appropriately to human emotions. By presenting the emotions on a monitor or setting, "for example, patients with emotional disorders could be helped to better understand their feelings," explained the study leader. According to Macefield, the process offers many „mental illness and disorders with elevated or blunted emotional reactions“ possibly one „therapeutic benefit.“ For example, autism patients can be helped to better understand the feelings of others, but also to express their own feelings better.

In another experiment with actors, the researchers now want to gain additional data that they can use for a soundtrack. So far, only actors are selected as subjects, as they routinely manifest feelings such as anger, grief or happiness, the Australian scientists report. The audio artist Erin Gee was convinced that soon the first people „expertly playing their emotions as if playing cello.“ She is planning in Montreal for the coming year, the first show in which a symphony of feelings is to be performed. (Fp)

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Picture: Gerd Altmann, Pixelio