Bound By The Sound

Van Dusen in conjunction with Pauline Oliveros, a musician and arts professor at Rensselaer has developed a new computerized instrument that allows people to play music via tip of their nose. The device will prove highly beneficial for all those who all are suffering from physical disabilities like cerebral palsy because now they will get the chance to experience music’s positive effects. Cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that permanently reduces muscle coordination and often makes people to feel mentally imprisoned by their inability to speak or move, whereas according to the researchers the music offers them a technique to break bonds of physical disability because it offers patients a way to express themselves. This new interface doesn’t allow only musical communication but it can also be used for speech, especially for those physically challenged people who only respond ‘yes’ or ‘no’ instead of saying full sentences. According to the Zane Van Dusen, a recent graduate of computer science and electronic media arts and communications at New York-based Renssealer Polytechnic Institute: This instrument will give a voice to those who are all too often ignored, due to their physical disability However,other music tools are also available and most tools restrict input to a joystick on a wheelchair and are also expensive to add or modify, the tools may also require wires or cables that obstructs or sometimes also divert persons but Van Dusen’s this ‘adaptive-use musical instrument’ promises to conquer all these challenges only with the help of an inexpensive webcam and via specialised computer software. Now the question arises how this obliging device works? Firstly, a person have to sit in front of the computer in which he or she will see a live video of their face through a webcam, then Motion-tracking software places a red box on the tip of the person’s nose and tracks the user’s movement across an onscreen keyboard. The lowest notes are located to the left and the highest notes are located to the right and the sketch of a rectangle around the person’s face also appears on screen that relates to the types of sounds the person can make. For example, the rectangle can also be widened or narrowed in order to contain the patient’s range of motion. The key board mode of this device enable person to stay within the rectangle by touching keys to make notes whereas in percussive mode, the person can move outside the rectangle to set off a snare drum or cymbal sound. The first study conducted at Rehabs Program in Poughkeepsie, New York State reveals that children who came across this instrument paid more attention to their movements because they were provoked by the sounds they were creating, and when this instrument was tested on a one nine-year-old child who spent an hour creating a song, even though it required a lot of effort. The professional musician and an occupational therapist at Rehab Programs Leaf Miller asserted: The added benefit of all of this is that the children are working on their head control and affordability is also an issue. The cost of the hardware and software is not going to be expensive and that makes it accessible. It can also be adapted for speech language pathologists to use for communication. The team is also working to develop additional interfaces for an organization that will promote an inimitable approach to music, literature, art and meditation. The creators also forecasts that day is not far when this new interface will also open new doors for all those frustrated patients to express the song they have on the tip of their nose. Via: ABC