Neural correlates of boredom in music perception

Introduction: Music can elicit powerful emotional responses, the neural correlates of which have not been properly understood. An important aspect about the quality of any musical piece is its ability to elicit a sense of excitement in the listeners. In this study, we investigated the neural correlates of boredom evoked by music in human subjects. Methods: We used EEG recording in nine subjects while they were listening to total number of 10 short-length (83 sec) musical pieces with various boredom indices. Subjects evaluated boringness of musical pieces while their EEG was recording. Results: Using short time Fourier analysis, we found that beta2 rhythm was (16-20 Hz) significantly lower whenever the subjects rated the music as boring in comparison to nonboring. Discussion: The results demonstrate that the music modulates neural activity of various parts of the brain and can be measured using EEG

Rhythmic structure in Iranian music

Most previous studies of Iranian music focus on melodic systems (Farhat, Zonis, etc.) or on instrumentation and the transcription of folk songs (Massoudieh, Darvishi, etc. ). This thesis examines the so-far neglected rhythmic structure of Iranian classical music. This research has adopted a multidisciplinary perspective, employing approaches from the psychology of music, Western and Iranian music theory, historical musicology and the ethnomusicological approach of participant-observation. In order to investigate the rhythmic aspect of Iranian music and attempt to relate it to other aspects of this music, this thesis examines different issues related to the rhythmic structure of Iranian music, including the rhythmic structure of the Persian poetry, the old rhythmic cycles and the rhythmic characteristics of both improvisation and composed music. Analysis of more than fifty improvisations and composed music in this thesis shows that the rhythmic organisation of güsheh-ha and musical genres with any rhythmic profile (such as free metre, stretchable metre or fixed metre) may be influenced by the shape of Persian poetic metres. A wide exploration of music-related manuscripts from the twelfth to fifteenth centuries provides an opportunity to compare more than thirty different rhythmic cycles recorded there. Although this system of rhythmic cycles is no longer explicitly used in Iranian music, examining several examples of contemporaneous improvisation and composed music reveals that a taste of the old rhythmic cycles is still felt in this music. An adaptation of the old rhythmic cycles examined in this thesis to current techniques of tombak performance is another outcome of this thesis. Moreover, presenting a case study of contemporary performance of Iranian classical music at the end of this thesis provides an opportunity to exhibit the role in a real performance of most of the theories raised in this thesis

BatSight: Efficient Sonification Techniques to Map Environmental Information into Audio Cues in Audio Augmented Reality Games

By using sound to visualize the real-world environment, audio games can offer a completely new game experience. In this paper, we study how audio cues can be visualized in computer games to enhance the navigation skills of players. To this end, we propose an audio game in which blindfolded players move through a physical maze with the help of audio cues. To realize this game, a sonar headset is designed and built based on ultrasonic sensors, which maps the external environment features into musical sounds. The game is played in a real-world environment and uses an augmented reality approach as it adds virtual sounds to the real world. The gaming environment of this game is a physical maze, where the blindfolded players enter the maze while wearing the sonar headset. A user study was conducted to evaluate the effect of using different sound mapping techniques on navigation performance and playing experience in the game proposed in this paper. The results show that producing musical sound can lead to better navigation performance, game experience, and immersion in players