Search Results (51)

In the context of typhlo music therapy, personalized interventions can significantly enhance the therapeutic experience for visually impaired children. Leveraging a data-driven approach, we incorporate action-rule discovery to provide insights into the factors of music that may benefit individual children. The system utilizes a comprehensive dataset developed in collaboration with an experienced music therapist, special educator, and clinical psychologist, encompassing meta-decision attributes, decision attributes, and musical features such as tempo, rhythm, and pitch. By extracting and analyzing these features, our methodology identifies key factors that influence therapeutic outcomes. Some themes discovered through action-rule discovery include the effect of harmonic richness and loudness on expression and communication. The main findings demonstrate the system’s ability to offer personalized, impactful, and actionable insights, leading to improved therapeutic experiences for children undergoing typhlo music therapy. Our conclusions highlight the system’s potential to transform music therapy by providing therapists with precise and effective tools to support their patients’ developmental progress. This work shows the significance of integrating advanced data analysis techniques in therapeutic settings, paving the way for future enhancements in personalized music therapy interventions. Full article

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of background music on text comprehension using eye-tracking technology. Ten Greek undergraduate students read four texts under the following four reading conditions: preferred music, non-preferred music, café noise, and in silence. Eye movements were tracked to assess visual patterns, while reading performance and attitudes were also evaluated. The results showed that fixation measures remained stable across conditions, suggesting that early visual processing is not significantly influenced by auditory distractions. However, reading performance significantly declined under non-preferred music, highlighting its disruptive impact on cognitive processing. Participants also reported greater difficulty and fatigue in this condition, consistent with an increased cognitive load. In contrast, preferred music and silence were associated with enhanced understanding, confidence, and immersion, café noise also had a moderate but manageable effect on reading outcomes. These findings underscore the importance of tailoring reading environments to individual preferences in order to optimize reading performance and engagement. Future research studies should focus on the effects of different musical attributes, such as tempo and genre, and use more complex reading tasks, in order to better understand how auditory stimuli interact with cognitive load and visual processing. Full article

Background/Objectives: Patients with physical disabilities, like cerebral palsy, the most common movement disorder in childhood, can benefit from instrumental therapy using piano. Playing the piano promotes the interaction between different brain regions and integrates motor skills, sensory skills, musical hearing, and emotions. A pilot music study examined the effects of six months of piano lessons on hand motor skills and musical hearing in groups of children with motor disabilities. Methods: The allocation to the group was not randomized. Various tests, including the standardized Box and Block Test (BBT) and piano tests, assessed hand motor skills. Musical hearing was evaluated, and a questionnaire was used to determine the participants’ enjoyment and experience with the piano lessons. The regularity, tempo of keystrokes, and synchronization between the two hands were assessed and compared to evaluate the effects of six months of piano training. Results: After six months of piano training, statistically significant improvements were observed in the BBT, as well as in the regularity and tempo of the non-dominant hand. The children showed significant improvement in hand-motor control, moving 27.3% more cubes in the BBT. Regularity and tempo in piano playing, especially in the non-dominant hand, also improved. Moreover, 55% of the children better recognized the correct pitches of notes. Conclusions: Thus, this study supports the concept that piano lessons are an effective form of physical therapy for the development of hand motor skills and musical hearing. Full article

Background: Both listening to music during warm-up and consuming caffeine before exercise have been independently shown to enhance athletic performance. However, the potential synergistic effects of combining these strategies remain largely unexplored. To date, only two studies have reported additional benefits to combining music during warm-up with a caffeine dose of 3 mg/kg on taekwondo-specific performance tasks. However, these studies did not evaluate whether this combination produces additive or synergistic effects on other types of sports performance. The present study aimed to assess the effects of listening to music alone or combined with caffeine intake on performance in the Wingate anaerobic test (WAnT) in physically active subjects. Methods: Twenty-four physically active male participants took part in this randomized, double-blind, crossover experiment. Participants underwent WAnT performance evaluations under three conditions: (i) no intervention (control; CON); (ii) music plus placebo (Mus + PLA), involving the intake of a placebo (maltodextrin) 60 min prior and self-selected high-tempo music during warm-up; and (iii) music plus caffeine (Mus + CAF), involving the intake of 3 mg/kg of caffeine 60 min prior and self-selected high-tempo music during warm-up. Under all conditions, participants wore the same Bluetooth headphones (with or without music), performed a 10 min standardized warm-up, and completed the 30 s WAnT with a load of 7.5% of their body weight on a calibrated ergometer. Power output was recorded at a frequency of 1 Hz throughout the exercise. The Feeling Scale was assessed both before and after the exercise test, while heart rate (HR) and the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were measured immediately following the exercise. Results: Mus + PLA and Mus + CAF significantly improved peak power, mean power, and total work compared with CON (p < 0.05). Furthermore, peak power was higher in Mus + CAF than in Mus + PLA (p = 0.01). Post-exercise HR and RPE showed no significant differences across conditions (p > 0.05). Regarding the Feeling Scale (FS) before exercise, the Mus + PLA and Mus + CAF conditions showed significantly higher scores than CON (p < 0.05), while no differences were found after exercise. The perceived fitness metrics displayed no significant differences among conditions (p > 0.05), except for self-perceived power, which was higher in Mus + CAF than in CON (p = 0.03). Conclusions: Self-selected music during warm-up, either alone or combined with caffeine, significantly enhanced several WAnT performance metrics, including peak power, mean power, and total work. Remarkably, combining music with caffeine further improved peak power and increased self-perceived power compared with music alone. While listening to self-selected music during warm-up provided measurable benefits on anaerobic exercise performance, the combination of music and caffeine demonstrated additive effects, making it the optimal strategy for maximizing anaerobic performance. Full article

Background: The human sensorimotor system can naturally synchronize with environmental rhythms, such as light pulses or sound beats. Several studies showed that different styles and tempos of music, or other rhythmic stimuli, have an impact on physiological rhythms, including electrocortical brain activity, heart rate, and motor coordination. Such synchronization, also known as the “entrainment effect”, has been identified as a crucial mechanism impacting cognitive, motor, and affective functioning. Objectives: This review examines theoretical and empirical contributions to the literature on entrainment, with a particular focus on the physiological mechanisms underlying this phenomenon and its role in cognitive, motor, and affective functions. We also address the inconsistent terminology used in the literature and evaluate the range of measurement approaches used to assess entrainment phenomena. Finally, we propose a definition of “physiological entrainment” that emphasizes its role as a fundamental mechanism that encompasses rhythmic interactions between the body and its environment, to support information processing across bodily systems and to sustain adaptive motor responses. Methods: We reviewed the recent literature through the lens of the “embodied cognition” framework, offering a unified perspective on the phenomenon of physiological entrainment. Results: Evidence from the current literature suggests that physiological entrainment produces measurable effects, especially on neural oscillations, heart rate variability, and motor synchronization. Eventually, such physiological changes can impact cognitive processing, affective functioning, and motor coordination. Conclusions: Physiological entrainment emerges as a fundamental mechanism underlying the mind–body connection. Entrainment-based interventions may be used to promote well-being by enhancing cognitive, motor, and affective functions, suggesting potential rehabilitative approaches to enhancing mental health. Full article

Influences from external factors can affect decision-makers, preventing them from making decisions in a fully rational manner. Music may serve as one such influential factor in this context. Music is part of our daily lives, and we are exposed to music in numerous places. We designed a field experiment to study the influence of background music on patrons’ behavior in restaurants. Specifically, we examine the effect of the music’s tempo (slow or fast) on time spent in the restaurant, the bill amount, and the tip size. The results show that patrons in the slow tempo group spent the most time in the restaurant, those in the control group followed next, and the patrons in the fast tempo group were the quickest to leave. However, there are no differences between the groups in bill size. The tips in the fast tempo group were higher than in the control group when controlling for several independent variables. The findings have practical implications for restaurant owners and managers. In busy periods, the restaurant can use fast-tempo music to increase the turnover of tables, because then tables become available for new diners more quickly, contributing more to the restaurant’s income compared to tables that occupy the space for a longer duration. Full article

This prospective crossover study aimed to investigate the effect of binaural beat therapy music on soccer player performance. Between July 2023 and December 2023, 45 athletes (31 females/14 males, mean age = 20.47 ± 0.99) wore Bluetooth earphones through which one of the following was given during initial 20 min warm-up exercises before undergoing repeated sprint ability tests: no music/fast-tempo music/fast-tempo music with background binaural beat therapy music. Heart rate change after warm-up exercises/repeated sprint ability (RSA) tests and the time to finish RSA tests were recorded. Despite no significant difference in heart rate increase after warm-up between the two genders regardless of intervention, larger increases after RSA tests were found in males following any of the three interventions (all p < 0.01) with the most notable difference observed after fast-tempo music (p < 0.0001). A significant effect size (r = 0.2) correlated with fast-tempo music during warm-up in either gender. Binaural beat therapy music during warm-up reached a significant effect size only when all participants were considered, suggesting limited benefits. Full article

Although studies have indicated that the prior use of video feedback and music listening separately improves physical performance and positive feelings in various sports, to our knowledge, no studies have investigated their combined effect in combat-sports-specific tasks. The aim of this study was to determine the combined effect of listening to preferred music and video feedback on aerobic and anaerobic performance in male kickboxers. In a counterbalanced crossover study design, twenty kickboxers underwent three kicking exercises under one of three conditions: (1) control condition, (2) combined listening to preferred music and video feedback, and (3) video feedback during 10-min of rope warm-up. Kickboxers performed a ten-second kicking test, multiple ten-second kick test, and progressive taekwondo test. The total number of kicks, fatigue index, heart rate, rate of perceived exertion, and feeling scale were measured. The combined music and video feedback condition improved the number of kicks with a better positive feeling scale (F ≥ 7.4, p ≤ 0.002, η_p² ≥ 0.28) than the video feedback and control conditions in all three kicking exercises, while the video feedback alone led to better kick performances and a better feeling scale than the control condition in the ten-second and multiple ten-second kicking tests (p ≤ 0.016). The combined listening to preferred music and video feedback condition was more effective at enhancing the positive feeling scale and repeated roundhouse kick performance. Future investigations should examine the application of video feedback and listening to music in various kickboxing tasks including punches and kicks. Full article

Several types of enrichment can be used to improve animal welfare. This review summarizes the literature on the use of mechanical brushes, tactile udder stimulation, music, and visual stimuli as enrichment methods for dairy cows. Mechanical brushes and tactile stimulation of the udder have been shown to have a positive effect on milk yield and overall behavioral repertoire, enhancing natural behavior. Classical music reduces stress levels and has similarly been associated with increased milk yield. A slow or moderate tempo (70 to 100 bpm) at frequencies below 70 dB is recommended to have this positive effect. Evidence on the impacts of other types of enrichment, such as visual stimulation through mirrors, pictures, and color lights, or the use of olfactory stimuli, is equivocal and requires further study. Full article

The possibility of recommendations of musical songs is becoming increasingly required because of the millions of users and songs included in online databases. Therefore, effective methods that automatically solve this issue need to be created. In this paper, the mentioned task is solved using three basic factors based on genre classification made by neural network, Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs), and the tempo of the song. The recommendation system is built using a probability function based on these three factors. The authors’ contribution to the development of an automatic content-based recommendation system are methods built with the use of the mentioned three factors. Using different combinations of them, four strategies were created. All four strategies were evaluated based on the feedback score of 37 users, who created a total of 300 surveys. The proposed recommendation methods show a definite improvement in comparison with a random method. The obtained results indicate that the MFCC parameters have the greatest impact on the quality of recommendations. Full article

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of tactile stimuli and music during daily milking on the productive, physiological, well-being, and health parameters of dairy cows. The experiment, which lasted 39 days, was conducted on a commercial farm with forty crossbred cows (age: 36 to 42 months; weight: 350 to 400 kg) distributed in a completely randomized design (2 × 2) via the following treatments: (Con)—cows not exposed to stimuli, (Tac)—cows exposed to tactile stimuli before milking, (Mus)—cows exposed to music during milking, (Tac+Mus)—cows exposed to both stimuli. In this study, classical music with a slow (75 to 107 BPM) and moderate tempo (90 to 100 BPM) was played, and tactile stimuli was provided manually using a flexible stick in the posterior region and udders of the cows. Cows not exposed to any of the stimuli had up to 41% higher residual milk quantity compared to those exposed to one of or both of the stimuli. The sound stimulus promoted an increase in milk letdown before the start of milking. Cows exposed to stimuli showed higher serotonin levels, indicating a beneficial effect on animal well-being. However, cows exposed to pre-milking tactile stimuli showed an increase in somatic cell count. Combining both techniques may have positive effects on milk productivity and well-being. However, using music alone may be more recommendable as it does not pose health risks. Full article

Music transcription is the process of transforming recorded sound of musical performances into symbolic representations such as sheet music or MIDI files. Extensive research and development have been carried out in the field of music transcription and technology. This comprehensive review paper surveys the diverse methodologies, techniques, and advancements that have shaped the landscape of music transcription. The paper outlines the significance of music transcription in preserving, analyzing, and disseminating musical compositions across various genres and cultures. It also provides a historical perspective by tracing the evolution of music transcription from traditional manual methods to modern automated approaches. It also highlights the challenges in transcription posed by complex singing techniques, variations in instrumentation, ambiguity in pitch, tempo changes, rhythm, and dynamics. The review also categorizes four different types of transcription techniques, frame-level, note-level, stream-level, and notation-level, discussing their strengths and limitations. It also encompasses the various research domains of music transcription from general melody extraction to vocal melody, note-level monophonic to polyphonic vocal transcription, single-instrument to multi-instrument transcription, and multi-pitch estimation. The survey further covers a broad spectrum of music transcription applications in music production and creation. It also reviews state-of-the-art open-source as well as commercial music transcription tools for pitch estimation, onset and offset detection, general melody detection, and vocal melody detection. In addition, it also encompasses the currently available python libraries that can be used for music transcription. Furthermore, the review highlights the various open-source benchmark datasets for different areas of music transcription. It also provides a wide range of references supporting the historical context, theoretical frameworks, and foundational concepts to help readers understand the background of music transcription and the context of our paper. Full article

Both music and endpoint knowledge of exercise have been shown to independently influence exercise performance. However, whether these factors work as synergists or counteract one another during exercise is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the single and combined effect of listening to preferred music and types of endpoint knowledge on repeated countermovement jump (CMJ) test performance. Twenty-four (n = 24) current or previously competitive basketball players underwent CMJ testing under the following endpoint knowledge conditions: (1) unknown/no knowledge, (2) knowledge of the number of jumps, and (3) knowledge of exercise duration. For each of these, participants listened to either their preferred music or no music during the duration of testing. For the exercise portion, participants completed repeated CMJs where participants were encouraged to jump as high as possible with jump height, contact time, and flight time as outcomes. Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and feeling scale were measured before and after exercise. The results showed that, regardless of knowledge type, preferred music resulted in a significant decrease in both contact time and flight time (F ≥ 10.4, p ≤ 0.004, and η_p² ≥ 0.35), and a significant improvement of jump height (F = 11.36, p = 0.001, and η_p² = 0.09) and feeling scale ratings (F = 36.9, p < 0.001, and η_p² = 0.66) compared to no-music condition, while RPE was not significantly affected. Regardless of the presence of music, knowledge of the number of jumps and duration resulted in lower contact time (p < 0.001, 0.9 < d < 1.56) versus unknown condition during CMJs. Moreover, a significant decrease in RPE values was found during prior endpoint knowledge of number (p = 0.005; d = 0.72) and duration (p = 0.045; d = 0.63) compared to unknown condition. However, feeling scale ratings were not significantly affected. Moreover, no interactions with significance findings were found for any parameters. Overall, data suggest that listening to music and endpoint knowledge alter exercise responses in basketball players, but they do not interact with one another. Full article

Music Information Retrieval aims at extracting relevant features from music material, while Music Performance Analysis uses these features to perform semi-automated music analysis. Examples of interdisciplinary cooperation are, for example, various classification tasks—from recognizing specific performances, musical structures, and composers to identifying music genres. However, some classification problems have not been addressed yet. In this paper, we focus on classifying string quartet music interpretations based on the origin of performers. Our dataset consists of string quartets from composers A. Dvořák, L. Janáček, and B. Smetana. After transferring timing information from reference recordings to all target recordings, we apply feature selection methods to rank the significance of features. As the main contribution, we show that there are indeed origin-based tempo differences, distinguishable by measure durations, by which performances may be identified. Furthermore, we train a machine learning classifier to predict the performers’ origin. We evaluate three different experimental scenarios and achieve higher classification accuracy compared to the baseline using synchronized measure positions. Full article

The hand plays a crucial role in our daily lives and affects the quality of life. Sensory stimuli can affect the activation of the autonomic nervous system to control body homeostasis and finger motions. This study aimed to determine the optimal thermal and auditory stimuli that affect hand dexterity. The experiment included thirty healthy adults. In the experiment, the thermal stimuli were classified into 20, 30, and 40 °C. The auditory stimuli were classified into fast- and slow-tempo music. Each stimulus was randomly provided for 5 min and hand dexterity was tested with the Groove and Purdue pegboard tests. After each stimulus and test was conducted, a resting time of 20 min was provided before the next stimulus. When the thermal stimulus of 30 °C and auditory stimulus of fast-tempo music was provided, the completion duration of the hand dexterity test was the shortest. Except the thermal stimulus of 20 °C, all thermal and auditory stimuli induced increased hand dexterity, compared to the non-stimulated condition. Among the five categories of thermal and auditory stimuli, the thermal stimulus of 30 °C and auditory stimulus of fast-tempo music were the most effective in improving hand dexterity. Full article