HEART MUSIC
My research originates from a belief that music is a universal language, and a curiosity to define the primary building blocks of that language. You can look at any culture’s approach to music and find commonalities. No matter how you divide scales into tones, semitones or microtones, all human music falls within an octave. These universals transcend borders and cultural mindsets. Exploring these universals led me to what I believe is the common denominator: the human heartbeat.
Initially I recorded heartbeats through an electronic stethoscope and listened to the different patterns of those rhythms. More recently, the use of LabVIEW, a software program has provided much more detailed data. LabVIEW allows me to record the voltages produced by the electrical pulses of the heart, essentially capturing the frequency at which the heart vibrates. These frequencies can then be translated into the audible spectrum and analyzed as sound (heart music), which is accomplished by using specific algorithms written for LabVIEW. (Detailed methodology available here)
Below you will find some examples of the audio-visual output of this process.
This research has inspired a number of medical studies, including a collaboration with researcher Carlo Ventura which showed that exposure to the heart music caused unassigned stem cells to develop into myocardial (heart) cells.
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