Decoding Brain Waves Helps Identify Music, New Study Suggests

This undated image of the human brain was taken through scanning technology. REUTERS/FILE
This undated image of the human brain was taken through scanning technology. REUTERS/FILE
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Decoding Brain Waves Helps Identify Music, New Study Suggests

This undated image of the human brain was taken through scanning technology. REUTERS/FILE
This undated image of the human brain was taken through scanning technology. REUTERS/FILE

A new technique created by researchers at the University of Essex for monitoring brain waves can identify the music someone is hearing. The study was published on January 19, in the journal Scientific Reports.

The researchers 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.”

While 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.

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.

The research 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 while they are 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.

During the study, the participants listened to a series of 40-second pieces of simple piano music from a set of 36 pieces differing 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 percent.



'Lungs of the Earth': the Indonesians Fighting for Peatland

Indonesia has more tropical peatland than any country, but it is also quickly losing this poorly understood ecosystem. STR / AFP
Indonesia has more tropical peatland than any country, but it is also quickly losing this poorly understood ecosystem. STR / AFP
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'Lungs of the Earth': the Indonesians Fighting for Peatland

Indonesia has more tropical peatland than any country, but it is also quickly losing this poorly understood ecosystem. STR / AFP
Indonesia has more tropical peatland than any country, but it is also quickly losing this poorly understood ecosystem. STR / AFP

Indonesian environmentalist Pralensa steered his boat through a shallow canal in the marshy peatlands near his village, an environment he fears may soon disappear.

His oar stirred up rich organic material in the brackish water, evidence of the layers of plant matter that make peatlands vital carbon dioxide stores and key to biodiversity, AFP said.

Indonesia has more tropical peatland than any other country, but it is also quickly losing this poorly understood ecosystem.

That affects local residents and wildlife but also has global impacts, because converted peatland can release vast quantities of planet-warming carbon dioxide.

Pralensa worries a similar fate awaits much of the swampy peatland around his village of Lebung Itam in South Sumatra.

Locals say palm oil firm Bintang Harapan Palma has already begun digging canals to drain the peatlands for planting.

"We protested... we told them this is a community-managed area," said Pralensa, who, like many Indonesians, uses a single name.

"According to them, they already have rights to this land."

Bintang Harapan Palma did not respond to AFP's request for comment.

Peatlands are an in-between place -- seemingly neither water nor land -- an environment that slows plant decomposition and forms carbon-rich peat.

Covering just three percent of the world's surface, they hold an estimated 44 percent of all soil carbon.

Indonesia's peatlands are home to endangered orangutans, as well as economically important fish species. They also help prevent flooding and drought, lower local temperatures and minimize saltwater intrusion.

For Pralensa, peatlands are no less than a "spiritual bond".

"From the moment that we exist, that we're born, we are aware of this peatland. We encounter it every moment of every day," the 44-year-old said.

Catastrophic fires

Indonesia's peatland has long been converted for agriculture, drained of the water that is its lifeblood, with severe consequences.

Dry peat is highly flammable, and fire can smoulder underground and reignite seemingly at will.

The blazes sparked calls for action, including a moratorium on new peatland concessions.

Government regulations adopted the following year banned several damaging activities, including burning and drying out peatland.

The environment ministry did not respond to questions submitted by AFP.

"Weak oversight and law enforcement in Indonesia allow the exploitation of peatlands to continue," said Wahyu Perdana at peatland preservation NGO Pantau Gambut.

And fires still happen "almost every year," said Rohman, a farmer in Bangsal village, around two hours west of Lebung Itam.

Like Lebung Itam, it is ringed by plantations on converted peatland.

Bangsal residents could once rely on vast wetlands to feed their distinctive buffalo, which dive beneath the water to graze.

Fish traps supplied additional income, along with small rice paddies.

'We must protect nature'

Plantation infrastructure prevents water from subsiding properly when the rains end, complicating rice planting.

And then there is the seasonal haze.

"It's difficult to do anything" when it descends, said Rohman, with visibility sometimes dropping to just a few meters.

Everything from "economic activity to children playing and learning is very disrupted".

Rohman, 53, was one of several plaintiffs from Bangsal and Lebung Itam who filed a landmark lawsuit over the fires.

They argued three companies with nearby timber plantations on peatland bore legal responsibility for the health, economic and social impacts of local fires.

Filing the suit was not an easy decision, said Bangsal schoolteacher Marda Ellius, who alleges a company named in the case offered her money and help for her family if she withdrew.

"I kept thinking that, from the beginning, my goal here was for the environment, for many people," she said.

"I chose to continue."

AFP could not reach the companies named in the suit. Major firm Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), which buys from the three companies, did not respond.

This month, a local court rejected the suit, saying the plaintiffs lacked standing.

"The pain cannot be described," plaintiff Muhammad Awal Gunadi said of the ruling.

"It was tough because we were facing corporations.

The group has pledged to appeal, and Bangsal's villagers are lobbying local government for a new designation to protect their remaining peatland.

Healthy peat is "like the lungs of the Earth," said Bangsal resident and buffalo farmer Muhammad Husin.

"Hopefully, if we protect nature, nature will also protect us."