Biomuse: Musical performance generated by human bioelectric signals
Hugh S. Lusted, Raymond Knapp · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1988
A new type of musical instrument is described which utilizes bioelectric signals to drive a keyboard synthesizer via standard musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) code. Electrical activity from muscle (EMG), brain (EEG), heart (EKG), and eye (EOG) is detected by small disk electrodes on the skin, analyzed by a digital signal processor, and used to control sound generation from the synthesizer. Signal processing algorithms are designed to extract useful control parameters from the given physiological signals. For instance, detection of amplitude changes in the EMG and spectral changes in the EEG can be used to generate MIDI commands. Applications for the device are discussed, such as dance generated music, musician self-mixed performances, and music production by the handicapped.