MUSIC Imaging Research Articles

Creative music therapy to promote brain structure, function, and neurobehavioral outcomes in preterm infants: a randomized controlled pilot trial protocol

BackgroundPreterm birth is associated with increased risk of neurological impairment and deficits in cognition, motor function, and behavioral problems. Limited studies indicate that multi-sensory experiences support brain development in preterm infants. Music appears to promote neurobiological processes and neuronal learning in the human brain. Creative music therapy (CMT) is an individualized, interactive therapeutic approach based on the theory and methods of Nordoff and Robbins. CMT may promote brain development in preterm infants via concurrent interaction and meaningful auditory stimulation. We hypothesize that preterm infants who receive creative music therapy during neonatal intensive care admission will have developmental benefits short- and long-term brain function.Methods/designA prospective, randomized controlled single-center pilot trial involving 60 clinically stable preterm infants under 32 weeks of gestational age is conducted in preparation for a multi-center trial. Thirty infants each are randomized to either standard neonatal intensive care or standard care with CMT. Music therapy intervention is approximately 20 min in duration three times per week. A trained music therapist sings for the infants in lullaby style, individually entrained and adjusted to the infant’s rhythm and affect. Primary objectives of this study are feasibility of protocol implementation and investigating the potential mechanism of efficacy for this new intervention. To examine the effect of this new intervention, non-invasive, quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods at corrected age and standardized neurodevelopmental assessments using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development third edition at a corrected age of 24 months and Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children at 5 years will be performed. All assessments will be performed and analyzed by blinded experts.DiscussionTo our knowledge, this is the first randomized controlled clinical trial to systematically examine possible effects of creative music therapy on short- and long-term brain development in preterm infants. This project lies at the interface of music therapy, neuroscience, and medical imaging. New insights into the potential role and impact of music on brain function and development may be elucidated. If such a low-cost, low-risk intervention is demonstrated in a future multi-center trial to be effective in supporting brain development in preterm neonates, findings could have broad clinical implications for this vulnerable patient population.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02434224.

Iterative angle-and-time-domain gating technique for time-reversal MUSIC imaging

This study develops the preprocessing theory for time-reversal multiple signal classification (TR-MUSIC) imaging from the one-dimensional (time-domain) gating proposed in earlier papers to a two-dimensional one. Although the one-dimensional gating technique for TR-MUSIC mitigates the effect of noise as well as reduces the required number of antenna elements, the resulting image is subject to focusing errors when there are many targets in the gated region. In this paper, we propose a two-dimensional (angle-and-time-domain) gating technique based on the fast Fourier transform (FFT) and spatial FFT processing. By using these transforms and gating iteratively, we can reduce the number of targets to be detected at one time. The TR-MUSIC technique for the gated data provides more reliable images and precisely estimated coordinates compared with the previous work.

Ultrasound time-reversal MUSIC imaging with diffraction and attenuation compensation

Time-reversal imaging with multiple signal classification (TR-MUSIC) is an algorithm for imaging point-like scatterers embedded in a homogeneous and non-attenuative medium. We generalize this algorithm to account for the attenuation in the medium and the diffraction effects caused by the finite size of the transducer elements. The generalized algorithm yields higher-resolution images than those obtained with the original TR-MUSIC algorithm. We evaluate the axial and lateral resolutions of the images obtained with the generalized algorithm when noise corrupts the recorded signals and show that the axial resolution is degraded more than the lateral resolution. The TR-MUSIC algorithm is valid only when the number of point-like targets in the imaging plane is fewer than the number of transducer elements used to interrogate the medium. We remedy this shortcoming by dividing the imaging plane into subregions and applying the TR-MUSIC algorithm to the windowed backscattered signals corresponding to each subregion. The images of all subregions are then combined to form the total image. Imaging results of numerical and phantom data show that when the number of scatterers within each subregion is much smaller than the number of transducer elements, the windowing method yields super-resolution images with accurate scatterer localization. We use computer simulations and tissue-mimicking phantom data acquired with a real-time synthetic-aperture ultrasound system to illustrate the algorithms presented in the paper.

Ultrasound Time-Reversal MUSIC Imaging of Extended Targets

Ultrasound time-reversal imaging with multiple signal classification (TR-MUSIC) can produce images with subwavelength spatial resolution when the targets are point scatterers. In this experimental study, we evaluate the performance of the TR-MUSIC algorithm when the interrogated medium contains extended targets that cannot be considered as point scatterers, i.e., the size of the targets is on the order of the ultrasound wavelength or larger. We construct four tissue-mimicking phantoms, each of which contains glass spheres of a given size. We show that the quality of the phantom images obtained using the TR-MUSIC algorithm decreases with increasing sphere size. However, significant improvement is achieved when the image plane is divided into subregions, where each subregion is imaged separately. In this method, the TR-MUSIC calculations are performed on the windowed backscattered signals originating from each subregion. Our study demonstrates that the TR-MUSIC algorithm with time windowing can accurately locate extended targets but cannot provide the shape and reflectivity of the targets. We scan an inhomogeneous commercial tissue-mimicking phantom using an investigational synthetic-aperture ultrasound system, and show that the TR-MUSIC algorithm is capable of detecting small targets with high spatial resolution in inhomogeneous media.

The Predicament and Solution of Digital Music: A Comparative Study between Audio and Visual Contents

Multimedia covers both audio and visual contents; however, the teaching and research of the two contents are not balanced in practice. This paper attempts to evaluate the problem by the case study in Taiwan. It employs an empirical/cultural approach to conduct a comparative evaluation between Digital Music and Digital Imaging. It examines the predicament of Digital Music in higher education system in Taiwan, the interdisciplinary nature of Digital Music, the applications of MIDI technology, the human factors in curriculum designs and also proposes solution for future development.

Case Study of Music Therapy that used Improvisation and Music Imaging Methods with Complex PTSD Patient

Case Study of Music Therapy that used Improvisation and Music Imaging Methods with Complex PTSD Patient

ELECTROMAGNETIC SUBSURFACE DETECTION USING SUBSPACE SIGNAL PROCESSING AND HALF-SPACE DYADIC GREEN'S FUNCTION

In this paper, one of the subspace signal processing methods, namely time reversal multiple signal classiflcation (TR- MUSIC), is flrstly employed for electromagnetic subsurface detection where the multilayered dyadic Green's function is used. Therewith, one obtains the improved location and superresolution imaging for underground detecting application. The imaging pseudo-spectrum is accordingly deflned for both the echo-mode and transmit-mode TR-MUSIC methods, by analyzing the obtained multistatic response matrix. Based on the theoretical formula, we carry out the numerical simulation using the half-space dyadic Green's function in noisy scenario. The results show that the MUSIC imaging algorithm achieves the enhanced resolution and the transmit-mode method gives more robust output when performance comparison of the four methods is made, therefore indicate the TR-MUSIC could be a good candidate for subsurface detection.

Reciprocity gap music imaging for an inverse scattering problem in two-layered media

In this work we consider a modified MUSIC method for determining the positions of a collection of small perfectly conducting buried objects from measurements of time-harmonic electromagnetic fields on the surface of ground. This method is based on an asymptotic analysis of certain integrals of electric and magnetic fields, so-called reciprocity gap functionals, as the buried objects shrink to points. Unlike standard MUSIC reconstruction methods our algorithm avoids the computation of the Green's function for the background medium during the reconstruction process, but on the other hand it requires more measurement data. After describing the theoretical foundation of this reconstruction method, we provide numerical results showing its performance. We also compare these results to reconstructions obtained by a standard MUSIC algorithm.

Multistatic Response Matrix of a 3-D Inclusion in Half Space and MUSIC Imaging

Recent work on the retrieval of 3-D bounded dielectric and/or magnetic inclusions in free space is extended to burial in a half-space. Though emphasis is on the case of a single inclusion, enabling the derivation of closed-form mathematical results in illuminating fashion, the approach extends to the case of (an unknown number of) well-separated inclusions. Within an asymptotic field formulation derived from exact contrast-source vector integral formulations satisfied by the time-harmonic fields and using proper reciprocity relationships of the dyadic Green's functions, the multistatic response matrix of the inclusion is constructed from the leading-order term of the fields. Its singular value structure is analyzed in detail for a dielectric or a magnetic contrast, or both contrasts. This is performed in the case of a unique electric dipole array operated in the transmit/receive mode at a single frequency. A multiple signal classification-type algorithm follows from the decomposition, yielding a cost functional the magnitude of which peaks at the inclusion center. Numerical results illustrate the above as a function of the geometric and electromagnetic parameters of the configuration. Imaging of a spherical inclusion is in particular investigated from severely noisy synthetic data, as well as of two inclusions embedded within a non-conductive or conductive half space.

Time-Reversal MUSIC Imaging of Extended Targets

This paper develops, within a general framework that is applicable to rather arbitrary electromagnetic and acoustic remote sensing systems, a theory of time-reversal "MUltiple Signal Classification" (MUSIC)-based imaging of extended (nonpoint-like) scatterers (targets). The general analysis applies to arbitrary remote sensing geometry and sheds light onto how the singular system of the scattering matrix relates to the geometrical and propagation characteristics of the entire transmitter-target-receiver system and how to use this effect for imaging. All the developments are derived within exact scattering theory which includes multiple scattering effects. The derived time-reversal MUSIC methods include both interior sampling, as well as exterior sampling (or enclosure) approaches. For presentation simplicity, particular attention is given to the time-harmonic case where the informational wave modes employed for target interrogation are purely spatial, but the corresponding generalization to broadband fields is also given. This paper includes computer simulations illustrating the derived theory and algorithms.