Rhythmic Haptic Cueing for Gait Rehabilitation of Hemiparetic Stroke and Brain Injury Survivors

This thesis explores the gait rehabilitation of hemiparetic stroke and brain injury survivors by a process of haptic entrainment to rhythmic cues. Entrainment to auditory metronomes is known to improve gait; this thesis presents the first systematic study of entrainment for gait rehabilitation via the haptic modality. To investigate this approach, a multi-limb metronome capable of delivering a steady, isochronous haptic rhythm to alternating legs was developed, purpose-built for gait rehabilitation, together with appropriate software for monitoring and assessing gait. A formative observational study, carried out at a specialised neurological centre, supplemented by discussions with physiotherapists and neuropsychologists, was used to focus the scope on hemiparetic stroke and brain injury. A second formative study used a technology probe approach to explore the behaviour of hemiparetic participants under haptic cueing using a pre-existing prototype. Qualitative data was collected by observation of, and discussion with, participants and health professionals. In preparation for a quantitative gait study, a formal experiment was carried out to identify a workable range for haptic entrainment. This led to the creation of a procedure to screen out those with cognitive difficulties entraining to a rhythm, regardless of their walking ability. The final study was a quantitative gait study combining temporal and spatial data on haptically cued participants with hemiparetic stroke and brain injury. Gait characteristics were measured before, during and after cueing. All successfully screened participants were able to synchronise their steps to a haptically presented rhythm. For a substantial proportion of participants, an immediate (though not necessarily lasting) improvement of temporal gait characteristics was found during cueing. Some improvements over baseline occurred immediately afterwards, rather than during, haptic cueing. Design issues and trade-offs are identified, and interactions between perception, sensory deficit, attention, memory, cognitive load and haptic entrainment are noted

Designing virtual spaces: redefining radio art through digital control

Radio Art is a composition practice that is constantly evolving. Artists share a commonality to redefine, reinvent, and repurpose analogue radio. It is an art that often bends to the will of antiqued technology, celebrating a wide pallet of found sounds. This research extends the boundaries of the art form by exploring Radio Art through sonic-centric lens and establishing a consistent and reproducible compositional framework. By shifting radio from a found object to an instrument, I have deconstructed its sonic aesthetics into two parallel materials for composition, gestural noise and broadcast signal. When tuning an analogue radio to a signal, relationships between these materials unfold. Contrast is a term found throughout my research. Contrast is embodied throughout radio and its history; radio is used as both a scientific communication device and for artistic expression. it is a symbol of democracy and oppression. Radio produces broadcast noise and signal, creating poetic reception, such as control and chaos, anxiety and ecstasy, distance and closeness. This research explores the characteristics of these forces and materials as a symbiotic relationship of unfolding radiophonic behaviours. A major focus of this research is the control of analogue radio through deconstruction and composition. I embarked on a twenty-four-month development period to build a Digital Audio Workstation called Radiophonic Environmental Designer, (RED). RED enables composers to create virtual radiophonic environments that are navigated by rotating the dial. Material is positioned along a horizon, and tuning behaviours sculpted. There is also a physical interface embedded into an analogue radio shell to control the virtual tuning, namely, Broadcast Link-up Environment, (BLUE). BLUE is an ad-on program offering an online digital platform for the diffusion of Radio Art. Using an internet connection and gyroscope technology that is built into most smart phones, a radiophonic environment is interacted through a purpose-built website. In my creative practice, analogue radio has been redesigned by adopting digital technological practices to control, edit and model it’s unique sound. In doing so, I reflect upon relationships between analogue and digital design principles through an extensive study on virtual analogue software and interfaces

Exploring complex rhythmic devices in new music composition through software design

This thesis examines the role that complex rhythms perform in my music. I will demonstrate how the software I have created is unique and necessary for this type of rhythmic exploration in music composition and how it differs from existing softwares. I will investigate the practice of hearing one’s environment as music and how the development of my software and compositions are integrally linked to this phenomenon and make clear the importance of advanced rhythmic study within this practice. I am particularly interested in extending my own and others’ perceptual capabilities to hear more and more complex rhythms accurately and congruently with what they would normally consider ‘groove’. To this end, my project involves the development of softwares that: mathematically model the naturally occurring rhythms of specific species of frogs; allow the simultaneous occurrence of ninety-six different tempos; explore Miles Okazaki’s Rhythm Matrix; enable the creation of new and complex grooves from simple beginnings via performance means; allow for infinitely complex variable mapping of musical parameters and rhythms via simple gestural controls; are completely modular and dynamic in design, thereby freeing the user from normal software design limitations. I will demonstrate the use of these softwares in my music compositions and analyse the compositions from within the context of rhythmic exploration and discovery. KEYWORDS: composition, computer music, software, polyrhythm, algorithmic, experimental, groove, tempo, beat, poly-tempi, nature, frog

Do somatosensory oscillations relate to tactile attention? Extracting the phase of transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) during stimulus presentation.

Attentional mechanisms allow for the prioritization of information depending on the task at hand. Evidence from Electroencephalography (EEG) suggests that lateralised changes in the amplitude of alpha oscillations (8-­‐14 Hz) are linked to orienting attention and that the phase of an oscillatory cycle can affect how behavioral and perceptual information is processed. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a non-­‐invasive brain stimulation method that involves the application of weak electric currents to the scalp. tACS provides the ability to entrain intrinsic oscillations to specific frequencies. Through the employment of new hardware, the timings of stimuli presentation and the phase of tACS signals were accurately recorded so that their timings could be compared. This setup was implemented in an ongoing study that utilised participant individualized alpha and beta (25 Hz) stimulation during two tactile attention tasks. Results indicated that during alpha stimulation, performance in an endogenous tactile attention was mediated by the phase of the tACS signal, with a distribution of reaction times (RTs) that approximately followed the pattern of the waveform signal. The phase of the tACS signal during beta stimulation was shown to mediate performance during an exogenous tactile attention task. Both these results indicate that the fastest and slowest RTs occur at opposite phase positions of the tACS signal, providing novel evidence for a phasic relationship between performance variability and somatosensory attention

The rhythm of life: the perfect rhythm of morse code

Morse code is a unique exemplar of the inherent complexities of rhythm. Learning Morse code in wartime presented challenges to expedite skill acquisition. This thesis explored the strategies used to teach and learn Morse code in the second World War and investigated the resourceful techniques used by the WRANS in an empirical study. The first study investigated the teaching and learning strategies of wartime telegraphists to learn Morse code. Five WRANS described a series of techniques to learn Morse code, including rote learning and repetition, visualisation and pattern recognition, intoning and mnemonics, and music. Music provided effective training for the fundamental teaching and learning of Morse code by matching the rhythmical properties of Morse code to music. Music equipped Morse code operators with a unique approach to Morse code instruction. Learning Morse code with music was described as a way of making sense of the ‘rhythm’ and ‘shape’ of the Morse code letters and proved an invaluable aid to learning and teaching Morse code. The second study examined the effectiveness of learning Morse code with the aid of music. Novices formed two groups, Control Group (no music aid) and Music Group (with music aid). Results confirmed the effectiveness of music training in three Morse code letters, Q V, and A in two experiments, the first with known Morse code letters (Q V A) and the second with unknown letters. The Music Group accurately identified 90% of known and unknown Morse code letters compared to the Control Group who identified less then 50% of known and unknown Morse code letters. This thesis explored the transferable attributes of rhythm perception in music as a teaching and learning mechanism for Morse code. There is extensive research on the complex learning and retention of Morse code but the studies in this thesis have indicated that the ground-breaking wartime strategy of music and Morse code is a powerful duo. The investigation of learning and teaching strategies of the WRANS showed that musical rhythm influenced the skill acquisition of Morse code and the perceptual test suggests that current work in rhythm perception extends beyond music pedagogy and has further implications for all cognitive function

The rhythm of life: the perfect rhythm of morse code

Morse code is a unique exemplar of the inherent complexities of rhythm. Learning Morse code in wartime presented challenges to expedite skill acquisition. This thesis explored the strategies used to teach and learn Morse code in the second World War and investigated the resourceful techniques used by the WRANS in an empirical study. The first study investigated the teaching and learning strategies of wartime telegraphists to learn Morse code. Five WRANS described a series of techniques to learn Morse code, including rote learning and repetition, visualisation and pattern recognition, intoning and mnemonics, and music. Music provided effective training for the fundamental teaching and learning of Morse code by matching the rhythmical properties of Morse code to music. Music equipped Morse code operators with a unique approach to Morse code instruction. Learning Morse code with music was described as a way of making sense of the ‘rhythm’ and ‘shape’ of the Morse code letters and proved an invaluable aid to learning and teaching Morse code. The second study examined the effectiveness of learning Morse code with the aid of music. Novices formed two groups, Control Group (no music aid) and Music Group (with music aid). Results confirmed the effectiveness of music training in three Morse code letters, Q V, and A in two experiments, the first with known Morse code letters (Q V A) and the second with unknown letters. The Music Group accurately identified 90% of known and unknown Morse code letters compared to the Control Group who identified less then 50% of known and unknown Morse code letters. This thesis explored the transferable attributes of rhythm perception in music as a teaching and learning mechanism for Morse code. There is extensive research on the complex learning and retention of Morse code but the studies in this thesis have indicated that the ground-breaking wartime strategy of music and Morse code is a powerful duo. The investigation of learning and teaching strategies of the WRANS showed that musical rhythm influenced the skill acquisition of Morse code and the perceptual test suggests that current work in rhythm perception extends beyond music pedagogy and has further implications for all cognitive function

Zen in the Art of Drumming: Jim Blackley and His Influence on the Jazz Drummers of Canada

The objective of this thesis is to examine how the pedagogy of Jim Blackley (1927- 2017) the late Scottish-Canadian jazz drummer and educator influenced several generations of Canadian jazz drummers. Blackleys seminal publications such as Syncopated Rolls for the Modern Drummer Vol.1 (1961) and The Essence of Jazz Drumming (2001) disavow the traditional instruction of the snare drum rudiments in favour of playing and interpreting musical lines. Consequently, Blackley inculcated in his students the importance of the drummers ride cymbal acting as the primary means of stating time and providing the accents, punctuations, and phrases so vital to jazz rhythmic accompaniment. Through emphasizing the development of strong time keeping skills, an awareness of song form, the memorization and vocalization of rhythmic figures and phrases, and the significance of listening carefully to the bass line, chord changes and melody when improvising, Blackley instilled in his students the inviolable tenet of playing the drums musically. Using an ethnographic approach culling data from interviews with Blackleys former students such as Terry Clarke, Barry Elmes, Duris Maxwell, and others, this thesis will also explore issues of identity construction and construal examining how Blackleys pedagogy had led his students on an important journey of identity realization

Playing code: Interacting with computers through rhythm

This research project involved the production and public performance of eight audio-visual art works and a corresponding reflective commentary. The aim in creating the artworks was to slow down and translate digital information, in the form of the rhythms and patterns of computer processes, into musical, textual and visual forms. In this reflective commentary, I argue that such processes of playing code offer a distinct form of HCI (human-computer interaction) that has significant musical and critical value in a field that has hitherto been overly dominated by movement, gesture and touch. Through a research process that involved both learning to play the established highly evolved rhythmic artforms of Afro-Cuban and flamenco music, as well as deconstructing data communication signals and developing experimental computer interfaces, I immersed myself in a series of environments in which rhythmic codes were embodied and transmitted through sound. I argue that the systems I developed, by incorporating a variety of cultural traditions - each based upon the transmission of these rhythmical codes - lend what Yuk Hui has described as technodiversity to the field of interactive computer art. Drawing upon postphenomenology and media archaeology, as well as Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow, I argue for the importance of practice-based methods - making circuits, writing software, performing, exhibiting and studying the music within their localities - in the forging of productive new links between the fields of HCI data communications and diverse global musical traditions. By making data audible and developing experimental new hermeneutic relations with computers, my work suggests productive expansions to our extant relationship with technological artifacts in terms of embodiment, as well as offering practical approaches towards developing technodiversity