Describing it as a “music prosthetic,” Thomas Deuel, a neuroscientist at the University of Washington authored a paper last year detailing the Encephalophone. “[It is] a musical instrument that you control with your thoughts, without movement. I am a musician and neurologist,” he continued, “and I’ve seen many patients who played music prior to their stroke or other motor impairment, who can no longer play an instrument or sing. I thought it would be great to use a brain-computer instrument to enable patients to play music again without requiring movement.”

The Encephalophone is a thought-controlled musical instrument that was described in last summer’s report in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. It collects brain signals through a skull cap that transforms specific signals into musical notes with help from synthesizer. The possibilities for help with rehabilitation, or to simply give patients with motor disabilities, amputations, or diseases such as ALS, a chance to continue with an activity that was part of their lives pre-condition are astounding.

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