TITLE : When Information Technology, Music and Medicine Converge 

Time: Thursday, Nov 3, 2011, 10:30 AM 

Venue: SEIEE 03-414 

ABSTRACT: 
With the continuing advances in the Internet technology, there has been abundant music (e.g., from YouTube, iTune etc.) available to ordinary users. How to organize/categorize music to enable effective search or recommendation for healthcare applications becomes an important research problem. We are particularly interested in music information retrieval (MIR) and Sound and Music Computing (SMC) technologies which can make the traditionally expensive music therapy (MT) affordable for patients with limited resources to cope with chronic diseases such as Parkinson and stroke. In this talk, I will introduce a few computer supported music therapy (CSMT) projects at National University of Singapore, followed by live demos and a discussion of possible research collaborations, available PhD scholarships and research positions. 

BIODATA: 
Ye Wang is a tenured Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He established and directed the Sound and Music Computing (SMC) Lab at NUS School of Computing. Before joining NUS he was a Member of the Technical Staff at Nokia Research Center in Tampere, Finland for 9 years. His research interests are in the area of Mobile Computing, and Sound and Music Computing (SMC), in particular Sound Analysis and Music Information Retrieval (MIR) with an emphasis on applications in edutainment and e-Health. He is especially interested in determining the effectiveness of computer supported assistive technology in music education and music therapy via subjective and objective evaluations. His most recent research involves the design and evaluation of systems to support 1) therapeutic gait training using rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS), and 2) ear training and singing practice via meaningful feedbacks. In the current academic year he is having his sabbatical leave at the School of Computer Science, Fudan University (17th October 2011 – 16th January, 2012), and at Harvard Medical School (1st February – 31st July 2012).