Text by Victoria Gray
Form and Context
The question of context is at the foreground in this stage of the project. It became interesting to explore the uses of sEMG in its original context, that being the medical field. This would enable greater understanding of the need for the emergence of this technology.
Previously, sEMG has only been available as expensive medical grade equipment, therefore an initial meeting with Glyn Blackett at the clinic Biofeedback in York at York Science Park enabled expert advice on the uses of sEMG in health contexts. In a medical framework, biofeedback in general can aid development of an integrated mind-body awareness enabling a patient or client to obtain greater somatic intelligence. By monitoring changes in bodily responses (this can include muscle rate, heart rate and cardiovascular activity) biofeedback sensors feed data to a computer which is represented as interpretable data for the patient/client – usually as a visual graph or a sound trigger. Here, a feedback loop occurs between the body and the data. In this case, the technology is particularly useful for people with anxiety and is an excellent ‘self-help’ method since it can bring an awareness to the relationship between bodily tension (muscular) and mental health. However, the obvious limitations are that it is a highly expensive technology. Therefore, patients or clients, most commonly access the technology via a medical provider or an independent clinic with home-use being less common. This points to the efficacy of MyoLink as an affordable, portable and wireless piece of technology.
In an initial research consultation, Glyn Blackett kindly facilitated a 1 hour session in biofeedback so as to experience what the technology can do in an embodied way. This included a discussion of the various visual and audio representations that are used to map data and the bespoke software that Glyn himself had developed for use in his own clinic. This aspect was most relevant since it is the interactive software that we will be developing in this project. It was interesting to note that Glyn had developed his own software, indicating that existing software’s would be amenable and adaptable by Oliver and myself. Through a colleague at The University of York, Music Research Centre, we also learned that artists were already developing their own softwares for uses in art contexts, such as Marco Donnarumma (although not necessarily sEMG and in specific music contexts). Donnarumma’s Xth Sense Digital Interface, Trixtone~ and C::NTR::L are freely downloadable examples of software developments.
This session raised a number of questions that needed to be addressed. Whilst interested in the health benefits, our project does not intend to situate itself within a pedagogic or therapeutic context. Also, after seeing and hearing my muscles as data in this session, there were important aesthetic questions to be asked, such as; What sound do we want the muscles to make? Why do we want to render this particular quality of sound? Do we want the sensors and computer to be visible in the performance context or is this an aesthetic distraction? How will the sound be installed in space? If we want continuous sound can this be achieved using MyoLink? What is the battery life of the sensors if used in a durational performance of up to nine hours (for example)?
These questions would require going back to Alex at Somaxis to ask for clarification on the technical specifications of MyoLink and its software.
