Research Project Description:

The revised proposal concentrates on developing the hardware and software pipeline that can be

incorporated as part of a closed-loop system for real-time music manipulation in a clinical setting. The envisaged future system will be an automated intervention that uses real-time modification of

musical features in a way that achieves desired changes in the patient physiological state (i.e. reducing anxiety and inducing a calming effect), decreasing the need for additional drug administration in a perioperative setting. The real-time music manipulation is an integral component of this system. Thus, this funding will allow us to take the first step towards this line of research through developing the modular real-time music manipulation signal processing pipeline using off the- shelf hardware components. The proposed system will utilize BELA, a dedicated microcontroller and digital signal processing system geared towards real-time audio manipulation with minimal latency. Given that the tempo in particular is suggested to play a key role in actively modulating listener emotions, including anxiety, by inducing changes in arousal (faster tempo is associated with higher arousal, and vice versa), the custom-built processing pipeline will implement a method for estimating the tempo of real (polyphonic) music and a method for manipulating the music such that an increase / decrease of the tempo is achieved based on changes in a biosignal that is indicative of arousal (heart rate). The proposed platform will be used as the basis for developing a more complex music manipulation methodology / system that utilizes a combination of physiological measures of arousal (brain, cardiovascular and respiratory activity) to modify additional musical features. Moreover, it will provide preliminary supportive data that can be incorporated into a future research proposal for development of the envisaged closed-loop system for arousal manipulation in a clinical setting through the use of real-time music manipulation.

Principal Investigator(s) and Coordinating Institution(s):

  • Dr Nicoletta Nicolaou, University of Nicosia Medical School, Cyprus

Researchers at University of Nicosia Medical School:

  • Dr Nicoletta Nicolaou

**Other Researcher(s) Participating in the Project:

  • Dr Evagoras Xydas | IreRobot LTD, Cyprus
  • Prof Slawomir Nasuto | University of Reading, UK
  • Dr Marcela Vizcaychipi | Imperial College London / Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, UK

Other Participating Institution(s):

  • IreRobot LTD
  • University of Reading
  • Imperial College London / Chelsea & Westminster Hospital

Research Project Acronym: RUMBA

Funding Institution: University of Nicosia Medical School

Funding Programme: 2019 Call of the University of Nicosia Medical School Research Seed Fund

Research Project Status: Completed

Start and End Dates: November 2019 – October 2020