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Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman” -Ludwig van Beethoven

“Boston-based start-up Sync Project uses biometrics to tailor music to your mood.” An accelerometer is used to measure your heartbeat whilst the user is relaxed and specific music is playing. The music can help a person to feel completely relaxed with a healthy sleep, without the need for any medication. Users listen to an eight-hour classical composition of neoclassical composer Max Richter, in order to collect biometric data, monitor heart rate and body temperature. Volunteers wear rings, if they are at home and the Project collects the information.

 

 

Do you want to feel your greatest dreams? With this innovation, we will be able to concentrate on the sounds and proceed to an incredible quality of sleep. Try to imagine the perfect sleep. In perfect conditions, our dreams solve every problem that we create unconsciously, during the day. Some solutions stay incomplete until the next sleep. The different paths, in the processes of solving the problems, are recorded in our dreams, in a surreal form. Some end with an unsatisfactory solution, while others lead to solutions.

Then, after gathering the information, the Sync Project analyze the extracted data. This means, that they extract information about how you feel during this time, whilst the specific music is playing. Feedback is sent back in the form of the stress rate of the person. This will be a systematic treatment, with everyday health improvements. The project has also researched about how music affects people with diseases, like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s. “Repetitive, unsurprising music helps the brain go into a relaxed state – but does little more. Music has certain obvious ways it can excite or relax us, but there are limits and it certainly can’t replace real treatments” says neuroscientist David Eagleman.

The Sync Project is being run by PureTech partner Alexis Kopikis, in conjunction with PureTech CEO Daphne Zohar. Hugh Forrest is the director of the South by Southwest Interactive Festival who is also involved, along with Adam Gazzaley, from the University of California at San Francisco. Robert Zatorre is a neurology professor at McGill University. Tristan Jehan is the founding chief technology officer of The Echo Nest; and two academics from the MIT Media Lab, Joi Ito and Marko Ahtisaari also attend and participate in the project.

Autism and how music helps

Autism characterized by restricted and repetitive behavior. If q person with autism hears a repetitive music, then they will synchronize their mind with it, and the music will help them follow the pluralism of the sounds. If carry out this procedure systematically, we will have lasting effects. “It is frequent repetition that produces a natural tendency” Aristotle said.

Another option is the changing of the architectural structure of the brain by the sound signals. Each synapse, between the neurons, can be modified. If we modify the graph of the neurons-neurotransmitters, in a certain way, we can potentially help every disease. “When we look at a medical problem, we bring leading experts in that area together with people who have never thought about it before.” said Zohar.

The challenge is finding every consequence that has specific signals, in specific synapses. Then, with the appropriate source, we can produce the signals and send them to the destination. Don’t forget that the external environment is also changed, if we change our brains! Our senses are results of our brain’s processes. We can modify the vision, if we modify the neurotransmitters. But the real question is, how far we can go?

Top image: Zoombug Photos. (zoombugphotos)

Nikos Dimitris Fakotakis's picture

Nikos Dimitris Fakotakis

Fakotakis Nikos Dimitris received his BSc-MEng in Computer and Information Engineering from the Polytechnic School of Patras, Greece, in 2015. He is currently a PhD student in the Wireless Communication Laboratory of the same department. His research interests are in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Human Computer Interaction. In parallel with his studies he has been working as computer and network engineer, database administrator, and software developer (Java, python, etc.).Read More

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