Method of sonifying brain electrical activity

1 . A method for detecting seizure activity in a subject comprising:

generating a plurality of continuously time-varying acoustic parameters including a vowel-control parameter, an intensity-control parameter, and a pitch-control parameter from a continuous time-domain signal representing brain activity of a subject using a digital processor system, wherein the brain activity comprises seizure activity;

driving an audio synthesizer with the digital processor system using the generated plurality of continuously time-varying acoustic parameters to produce a representation of an acoustic signal corresponding to the brain activity of the subject represented by the continuous time-domain signal;

performing continuous audio playback of the representation of the acoustic signal using the digital processor system, wherein performing comprises audibly providing the representation of the acoustic signal with a speaker; and

detecting seizure activity based on an audible change in the audibly provided acoustic signal.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the seizure activity comprises one or more phases of an epileptic seizure.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more phases of the epileptic seizure comprise a pre-ictal phase, a seizure phase, and a post-ictal phase.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of continuously time-varying acoustic parameters are continuously modulated in proportion with the continuous time-domain signal.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the continuous time-domain signal representing brain activity is obtained from at least one sensor attached to a scalp of the subject.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is concurrently performed on a plurality of continuous time-domain signals representing brain activity at a plurality of distinct locations in a brain of the subject to produce representations of a plurality of acoustic signals.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of acoustic signals comprises audibly distinct acoustic signals.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of acoustic signals comprises audibly distinct sonic identities.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the audio synthesizer comprises a voice synthesizer.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the voice synthesizer uses frequency modulation synthesis to produce the representation of the acoustic signal.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the plurality of continuously time-varying acoustic parameters comprises:

computing a time-varying intensity value in proportion with the continuous time-domain signal; and

generating a time-varying control parameter corresponding to the computed time-varying intensity value.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the plurality of continuously time-varying acoustic parameters comprises:

selecting a base frequency; and

generating a time-varying pitch-control parameter corresponding to the selected base frequency and the time varying signal value of the continuous time-domain signal.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the plurality of continuously time-varying acoustic parameters comprises:

selecting a sonic identity corresponding to a spatial location in the brain that senses the continuous time-domain signal; and

generating an identity-control parameter corresponding to the selected sonic identity,

wherein the audio synthesizer is further driven using the identity-control parameter to produce the representation of the acoustic signal corresponding to the brain activity of the subject.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the plurality of continuously time-varying acoustic parameters further comprises generating a frequency-control parameter corresponding to the time-varying signal value of the continuous time-domain signal.