Hearing the Invisible: Transdisciplinary Research Engages the Community

Today
By Leslie Hawthorne Klingler
Cynthia Stokes and Tally Largent-Mlines

What does the brain sound like? Associate professor of pharmacology Tally Largent-Milnes asked herself while exploring electroencephalogram (EEG) data. She shared the question with Cynthia Stokes, an associate professor of opera who focuses on storytelling through live performance, whom she'd met when participating in the RII-sponsored Research Leadership Institute. Their mutual curiosity led to a transdisciplinary research project that transformed EEG brain wave patterns into immersive soundscapes, offering a new understanding of neural activity. 
 
Collaborating also with U of A music composition graduate Michael Vincent, Largent-Milnes assigned musical notes to specific EEG nodes, resulting in an audible symphony of the brain's activity, from healthy function to the disruptions caused by Alzheimer's disease. 
 
Hearing the Invisible is more than an artistic endeavor—it holds potential for earlier medical diagnoses, says Largent-Milnes. By "hearing" changes in brain waves before they appear in imaging, researchers could develop earlier interventions for conditions like dementia and chronic pain. 
 
Hearing the Invisible debuts at the U of A Tornabene Theatre, with several opportunities: 

  • Thursday, February 13 (launch 6–8 p.m. and live musical performance 7 p.m.) 

  • Friday, February 14 (exhibit  4–8 p.m. and live musical performance 7 p.m.) 

  • Saturday, February 15 (Exhibit 10 a.m.–4 p.m. and live musical performances 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.) 

Read article on Hearing the Invisible by Stacy Pigott, U of A Health Sciences Office of Communications.