Headmusic: Exploring the Potential of a Low-Cost Commercial EEG Headset for the Creation of NIMEs

In recent years Electroencephalography (EEG) technology has evolved to such an extent that controlling software with the bare mind is no longer impossible. In addition, with the market introduction of various commercial devices even private households can now afford to purchase a (simplified) EEG device. This unlocks new prospects for the development of user interfaces. Especially people with severe physical disabilities could benefit by facilitating common difficulties (e.g. in terms of mobility or communication) but also for specific purposes such as making music. The goal of our work is to evaluate the applicability of a cheap, commercial EEG headset to be used as an input device for new musical interfaces (NIMEs). Our findings demonstrate that there are at least 7 input actions which can be unambiguously differentiated by machine learning and can be mapped to musical notes in order to play basic melodies.