Lullabies have been helping people drift off to sleep since 2,000 BC – and now, more than 4,000 years latera an AI machine has made its own relaxing tune.
Scientists have produced two tunes – one by Scottish composer Eddie McGuire and the other created by neural networks, in an attempt to see which one is better.
The AI-created lullaby was trained using sheet music in a computer-readable format, from which it developed a sense of harmony and rhythm, and it claims to be able to help cure insomnia.
Lullabies have been helping people drift off to sleep since 2000BC and now more than 4,000 years later an AI machine has made its own relaxing tune to send people to sleep (stock image)
The tunes are the work of Kent-based company AXA PPP healthcare has made two tunes to help people slip off into slumber.
Mr McGuire’s composition, called ‘Lyrical Lullaby’ was created with Dr Bede Williams who is head of Instrumental Studies at the University of St Andrews, and was recorded in the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
‘Lots of people report of a falling sensation as they fall asleep, and many lullabies mimic this by containing melodies made up of descending patterns in the notes’, said Dr Williams.
‘Lyrical Lullaby has this essential feature and many other musical devices which can induce in us a state of restfulness.’
The other tune, which was simply named ‘Lullaby’ was created using a machine by London-based company Jukedeck.
It was created through deep learning, which is based on layers of artificial neural networks inspired by the brain.
Like the brain, if you show one of these networks lots of complex data it can find hidden patterns.
‘We trained our networks on traditional folk music, because folk music and lullabies share lots of the same musical elements’, said founder and CEO of Jukebox, Mr Ed Newton-Rex.
Lullabies have been helping people drift off to sleep since 2000BC and now more than 4,000 years later an AI machine has made its own relaxing tune to send people to sleep (stock)
‘When the system had composed the lullaby in sheet music form, we had a human producer turn that sheet music into an audio track, as we think AI is at its best when computers and people work together’, he said.
The researchers hope that both the human-composed, and AI-composed lullabies will help some people who struggle to sleep.
Dr Mark Winwood, Director of Psychological Services for AXA PPP, said: ‘Lulling is certainly not a new technique, and any parent will have some understanding of the mesmerising effect singing a lullaby can have to help a baby or child drift off to sleep.
‘So why not apply the same approach to adults?
‘Many people struggle to drift off to sleep every night, whether this is from a sleep disorder such as insomnia or due to short term factors in an individual’s life that is impacting their ability to sleep.
‘Music can be used to reduce sympathetic nervous system activity; decrease anxiety, blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate; and possibly have positive effects on sleep in regards to muscle relaxation and distraction from trivial thoughts.’