This April, Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) has launched the platform Musitopia to adapt music to people’s moods in real time to improve their emotional well-being and mental health. The new interactive platform is an innovative approach to mental health by personalizing sound experiences based on AI techniques.

What functions does Musitopia offer to improve well-being?

The Music Technology Research Group (MTG) of the UPF Department of Engineering has launched a beta version that is accessible from any device. The platform includes several options to accompany people in their daily routine:

• Interactive breathing exercises and guided meditation
• Soundscapes designed to enhance concentration and relaxation
• Binaural sounds to achieve specific mental states
• One-on-one sessions with accredited professional therapists

This innovative approach to digital health allows users to stop being passive consumers of music. By means of technology, the system responds adaptively to help with emotional regulation.

How does AI help personalize the music experience?

To design the platform, different AI techniques have been used for the following purposes:

• Automatic sound composition
• Playlist customization
• Audio emotional content analysis
• Music therapy, visualization and imagination activities guided by music
• Harmonizing people’s biological rhythms with the beat of a song (rhythmic synchronization)

The project is led by Rafael Ramírez, a professor with the UPF Department of Engineering and director of the Music and Machine Learning Lab, linked to the MTG research group. Ramirez explains: “In music therapy sessions, exchanges usually take place between therapist and user, where musical interaction and feedback play a fundamental role in emotional regulation. However, existing music- and sound-based digital systems often function as one-way experiences where users consume predefined content. Musitopia proposes an interactive musical environment by introducing functions that allow users to form their sound experiences, while the system responds adaptively, or by interacting with a professional therapist”.

The project team also includes Raquel Lucena, Mario Ortega and Ariana Pereira, researchers of the Music and Machine Learning Lab. The team will now set an initial phase underway in Barcelona to evaluate the beta version of the platform with real users and implement improvements to the tool according to their contributions. To this end, the researchers have designed an opinion survey. The first version of the platform is available in Catalan, Spanish, English and Italian.

A project supported by Barcelona Music Lab

The Musitopia project has been supported by Barcelona Music Lab (BML), a non-profit foundation that explores the future of music and collaborates in innovative research projects in the field, with the support of Barcelona City Council, the Government of Catalonia and the Spanish Ministry of Culture. As part of its latest call for grants for innovative projects, BML contributed 18,000 euros to UPF’s Musitopia project due to its high social and technological impact.

The Music Tech Europe Academy, a pan-European acceleration programme targeting innovative agents in music technology, startups, entrepreneurship and SMEs co-funded by the EU, has also collaborated with the development of the platform. At UPF, Musitopia is also supported by the María de Maeztu strategic research programme of the UPF Department of Engineering.

On what scientific evidence is Musitopia’s design based?

The platform arose from research conducted by the Music and Machine Learning Lab on the therapeutic effects of sound and technology’s potential to optimize them. Rafael Ramírez summarized much of his research on the subject (see reference articles at the end) in the open-source book Neurocognitive Music Therapy (2024). The work shows how music therapy can:

• Improve cognitive processes in children with autism.
• Help elderly people with mental health problems.
• Aid with the rehabilitation of people with motor disabilities.
• Improve people’s emotional well-being in general.

In short, Musitopia combines AI, music therapy and neuroscience to offer each user the songs that best adapt to their mood at any time.

Reference articles

Ramirez R, Palencia-Lefler M, Giraldo S and Vamvakousis Z (2015) Musical neurofeedback for treating depression in elderly people. Front. Neurosci. 9: 354. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2015.00354

Ramirez R, Planas J, Escude N, Mercade J and Farriols C (2018) EEG-Based Analysis of the Emotional Effect of Music Therapy on Palliative Care Cancer Patients. Front. Psychol. 9:254. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00254

De Witte, M., et al. (2022). Music therapy for stress reduction: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Psychology Review.

Lu, G., et al. (2021). Effects of music therapy on anxiety: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Psychiatry Research.

Tang, Q., et al. (2020). Effects of music therapy on depression: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLOS ONE.

Agres KR, Schaefer RS, Volk A, Van Hooren S, Holzapfel A, Dalla Bella S, Muller M, de Witte M, Herremans D, Ramirez Melendez R, Neerincx M, Ruiz S, Meredith D, Dimitriadis T, Magee WL. Music, Computing, and Health: A Roadmap for the Current and Future Roles of Music Technology for Health Care and Well-Being. Music and Science 2021; 4(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/2059204321997709