Researchers successfully reconstructed sound from just human brain activity

By Matthew Griffin Intelligence and the Senses 24th July 2023

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

What is the thoughts in your head weren’t so secret after all?

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For the very first time Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been used to scan and decode brainwave patterns and then turn those patterns into audible sounds – that are freakily recognisable as you can hear from the video below. And it now means that we can now, literally, listen to the thoughts inside your head.

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Combine this with the ability to stream the imagery associated with those thoughts in your head and play them as a video on the TV, as we’ve also already done, and suddenly you might just realise that sci-fi is dead. And you might now also be realising that even the thoughts in your head in the future aren’t safe – and you’d be right especially as the tech to “at a distance is now also developing at a fast rate.

See how it’s done

In their ground breaking study the team successfully reconstructed what they call the “perceptual experiences from human brain activity and provide insights into the neural representations of sensory experiences.” Or, what I said above.

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Historically reconstructing these arbitrary sounds from the human brain has been avoided because of the complexity of the temporal sequences in those sounds and the limited resolution of neuroimaging technologies like fMRI.

However, while we’ve seen numerous developments recently in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) systems that can take different inputs such as text and turn them into music and assorted sounds this is the first study where the researchers used it to reconstruct sounds from decoded brain waves. And it’s scarily impressive as I think you’ll agree.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.