Sonification of electronic dynamical systems: Spectral characteristics and sound evaluation using EEG features

G Acosta Martínez; E Guevara; E S Kolosovas-Machuca; P G Rodrigues; D C Soriano; E Tristán Hernández; L J Ontañón-García

doi:10.1007/s11571-024-10112-1

Sonification of electronic dynamical systems: Spectral characteristics and sound evaluation using EEG features

Cogn Neurodyn. 2024 Oct;18(5):2751-2766. doi: 10.1007/s11571-024-10112-1. Epub 2024 May 9.

Authors

G Acosta Martínez¹, E Guevara^{2

3}, E S Kolosovas-Machuca², P G Rodrigues⁴, D C Soriano⁴, E Tristán Hernández¹, L J Ontañón-García⁵

Affiliations

¹ Instituto de Investigación en Comunicación Óptica, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Av Karakorum # 1470, Lomas 4ta Sección, S. L. P., 78216 San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
² Coordinación para la Innovación y la Aplicación de la Ciencia y la Tecnología, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Sierra Leona 550, Lomas 2da. Sección, S. L. P., 78210 San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
³ CONAHCYT-Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Sierra Leona 550, Lomas 2da. Sección, S. L. P., 78210 San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
⁴ Engineering, Modeling and Applied Social Sciences Center, Universidade Federal do ABC, Rua Arcturus, # 03 Jardim Antares, São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil.
⁵ Coordinación Académica Región Altiplano Oeste, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Carretera Salinas-Santo Domingo #200, Salinas, 78600 San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

PMID: 39555287
PMCID: PMC11564473 (available on 2025-10-01)
DOI: 10.1007/s11571-024-10112-1

Abstract

Chaos is often described as the limited development of nonlinear dynamic systems that create intricate and non-repetitive patterns. In this study, we questioned how chaotic electronic signals can be transformed into sound stimuli and explored their impact on brain activity using Electroencephalography (EEG). Our experiment involved 31 participants exposed to sounds generated from three processes from electronic implementations: signals from chaotic attractors, periodic limit cycles,and aleatory distributions. Our goal was to analyze characteristics and EEG signals to uncover the complex relationship between chaotic auditory stimuli and cognitive processes. Interestingly the chaotic stimuli caused a reduction in synchronization in the delta ( $δ$ ) and theta ( $θ$ ) frequency bands. We observed differences of up to 30 and 40%, primarily concentrated in the brain's frontal areas. This desynchronization in $δ$ and $θ$ bands, seen in individuals, has implications for regulating irregular $θ$ power in certain neural disorders. On the other hand, exposure to signals had mostly minimal effects on EEG readings. This research significantly contributes to our understanding of how the brain responds to stimuli derived from electronic systems. It sheds light on applications for modulating activity. Examining unpredictable sounds offers an understanding of the unique impacts of chaotic auditory inputs on brain activity, opening possibilities for further investigations at the crossroads of chaos theory, acoustics, and neuroscience.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11571-024-10112-1.

Keywords: Acoustic stimulation; Chaos; EEG; Nonlinear dynamical systems.

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