[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49NQqAqKywc[/youtube]
Blink that beat. Software that turns eye movement into musical notes lets you compose music or play a tune on a virtual instrument with just your eyes.
Called Eye Conductor, it was developed by at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design in Denmark and his colleagues to provide a musical outlet for people with physical disabilities. Caring for a boy with muscular dystrophy, Refsgaard found that it was hard to help him express himself creatively. 鈥淚 wanted to create a solution that still requires practice, like a traditional instrument,鈥� he says.
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The system uses an off-the-shelf eye tracker with a webcam to follow a person鈥檚 gaze. Specific eye movements are interpreted as notes, currently allowing you to play a virtual piano, violin or synth bass, or beats to play one of three virtual drums. Facial expressions can also affect the sound: raising your eyebrows transposes all notes up an octave and opening your mouth can add effects like reverb.
Rhythm in your eyes
Face and eye movements can be calibrated to an individual鈥檚 abilities. Still, Refsgaard admits that . 鈥淚t is significantly harder to tap a rhythm with your eyes than with your fingers,鈥� he says.
at Imperial College London is impressed. He recently created a robotic arm that paints in response to a person鈥檚 gaze and is working on your eyes for an installation at the Barbican Centre in London. 鈥淚t can restore agency to users with severe paralysis or amputees, and enable them to experience the joy of composing, arranging and making music,鈥� he says.
Refsgaard hopes that people will connect the system to their instrument of choice. 鈥淚 would like to make a web-based version of Eye Conductor so it can be accessed by a lot of people all over the world,鈥� he says.
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