Scientists Reproduce Pink Floyd Song from Listeners' Brain Activity

Researchers from the United States have successfully replicated the recognizable Pink Floyd track, "Another Brick in the Wall," using impulses extracted from the participants' experimentally-monitored brain activity while listening to the composition. This information was reported by ScienceAlert.

The scientists aimed to study how brain activity patterns interact with musical characteristics such as pitch and harmony. They found that a brain region known as the Superior temporal gyrus (STG) is related to rhythm processing. It appears that this area plays a crucial role in the perception and understanding of music.

To gather data, the researchers studied the brains of 29 volunteers who had previously been implanted with brain electrodes for epilepsy treatment. A total of 2,668 electrodes were analyzed for neural patterns during the playback of Pink Floyd music.

Subsequently, the system was tested in reverse: a musical segment was reconstructed based on brain activity. The sample, available through the link, is quite distorted, but overall, the song can be discerned.

"We reconstructed the classic Pink Floyd song 'Another Brick in the Wall' from direct signals of the human brain's cortex, providing insight into the neural foundations of music perception and the future potential for brain activity decoding," says neurobiologist Ludovic Bellier from the University of California.

For data processing, the researchers employed machine learning methods, including decoding models using regression. This system revealed correlations between the reproduced music and brain activity.

The widespread implications of this research concern improvements in the quality of life: in the future, it could assist individuals with hearing impairments in better perceiving music and language, including intonation and tone.

"The outcomes of musical perception could contribute to the development of a general auditory decoder that encompasses prosodic speech elements based on a relatively small number of well-located electrodes," the researchers write in their published article.

This is particularly vital for those unable to achieve this through conventional means. Additionally, the obtained data will contribute to the advancement of "brain-machine" interfaces.