Stimulated Percussions:Techniques for Controlling Human as Percussive MusicalInstrument by using Electrical Muscle Stimulation
Ayaka Ebisu∗

Satoshi Hashizume

Kenta Suzuki
Akira Ishii
University of Tsukuba

Mose Sakashita

Yoichi Ochiai

Figure 1: Left: participants having a combined session with our system. Middle: EMS signal stimulates the muscle, the user’s arm reacts,
and generates percussive sound from held maracas. Right: overview of our system.

Abstract
We propose Stimulated Percussions, a new method designed to beatout rhythm by controlling human bodies with percussions usingelectrical muscle stimulation (EMS). Numerous studies in the fields
of both science and art have been carried out to expand the possibilities for untrained people to be able to play musical instruments.
Especially, in some studies, EMS capable of controlling the human body is applied to play a particular musical instrument. However, these studies have focused on movements of the human bodyfor playing one specific instrument that requires movement of thewhole body. Therefore, in this study, we used EMS to evaluate thebody movements associated with different muscles. Moreover, we
set up individual rhythms to these body movements and discussed
the instrument that could be played by using these rhythms. We
believe this design method would be able to expand the possibility
for support to play a musical instrument.
Keywords: Musical performance, electrical muscle stimulation(EMS), supporting untrained people
Concepts: •Human-centered computing → Human computerinteraction (HCI); HCI design and evaluation methods;

1

Introduction

As the basis of playing musical instruments, humans move theirbody following the principle of producing a sound. Therefore, wehave to spend a long time to acquire the skills such that we are able
to produce the intended sound. Interfaces to enable an untrained

person to produce musical performance have been explored in boththe scientific and artistic fields. Some of the research relating tothese interfaces aims to promote the rapid acquisition of musicalperformance skills. In this study, we propose Stimulated Percussions, techniques for controlling humans as percussive musical instruments by using EMS. This enables a person to play a percussive
instrument by moving a particular muscle in the body in responseto an EMS signal even if s/he is untrained. In terms of the objectiveof this study, which is to design a method for playing ensemble tothe rhythm by evaluating the motion corresponding to stimulationof a particular position, especially, the results of this study can beapplied for training performance requiring a sense of rhythm.
Previous studies were concerned with applying EMS to playing amusical instrument. For example, Possessed Hand [Tamaki et al.
2011] applies EMS to the arm muscle to enable the Japanese harp
to be played. The Bio Sensing System [Nagashima 2003] presents abiofeedback system, and applies this to musical performance. This
study proposes the application of EMS to playing a percussion instrument as an example.
In contrast, our study does not aim to achieve motion in a particular part of the body for playing an instrument; instead, it aims toachieve various body motions that would apply to more than oneinstrument. Furthermore, we evaluated each motion in terms of theinstruments it would enable the person to play. Consideration of thedesign of a method whereby musical instruments could be playedby using EMS could extend the possibility of support for playing
the musical instrument.

2Implementation∗ e-mail:twill.fig1125@gmail.com

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the owner/author(s). ⃝SA ’16, December 05-08, 2016, , Macao
ISBN: 978-1-4503-4540-8/16/12
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3005274.3005324

In the preceding study, the stimulation pulse frequency was set to
40 Hz, the pulse width was 0.2 ms, and the pulse height (voltage)
was in the range of 17 - 29 V because it is adjusted to the human
impulse required to exercise muscle [Tamaki et al. 2011]. We set
the stimulation pulse frequency to 50 - 70 Hz, and the pulse widthto 0.8 ms. The pulse voltage can be modified because it depends on
the users or muscles earmarked for movement.
Stimulated Percussions consists of a circuit, a microcomputer (Ar-(a)ScoreTranslate toEMS signal

EMS
controller

Electrical
Stimulation

MusclePercussion

Figure 3: System image for Stimulated Percussions(b)

1(left). In addition, it is possible to play an extemporary musicalinstrument for a similar reason. It should be possible to apply Stimulated Percussions widely to musical performance because it would
allow people to even perform unknown music without any preparation. Our System is illustrated in Figure 3.

References(c)Figure 2: Pad positions of EMS and movement. (a) extension of thewrist joint. (b) flection of the elbow joint and extension of the wrist
joint. (c) plantar flection of the foot joint.

duino), a PC, DC stabilized power source equipment and electrodepads (OMRON HV-LLPAD) (as shown in Figure 1 (right)). In thecircuit, we used a 555 timer to generate pulses and a transformer
was used to increase the voltage. When the voltage of direct current
stabilized power source equipment increases, the electrical stimulus
strengthens and the response of the human body is enhanced.

3Arm movement and pad position design

We searched for the right pad position to reproduce the movement
made by a user who plays the percussion instruments by considering the movement of the muscles as shown in Figure 2. Pad position(a) shows the location for stimulating the extensor carpi radialis
longus and brevis. These muscles have the function of extending
the wrist joint. We consider this pad position to be suitable for playing the triangle or the maracas. Pad position (b) shows the location
for stimulating the biceps muscle of the upper arm, brachioradialmuscle, and extensores carpi radialis. The biceps muscle of theupper arm and brachioradial muscle have the function of flection of
the elbow joint. Because the forearm and the wrist move, this would
enable a person to beat with drumsticks. Pad position (c) shows
the location of stimulating the gastrocnemius muscle which has thefunction of achieving plantar flexion of the foot joint. When stimulating the gastrocnemius muscle by the state in which you place
your heel on the floor and point your foot upwards, it is possible toobtain rhythmic movement by the foot.

4Application

Stimulated Percussions aims to propose a design method to enable untrained people to play a musical instrument. Therefore,
this method should help to acquire musical performance skill fora certain instrument. The method is very effective in that everyone can play the instrument regardless of the presence or absenceof a rhythmic sense because music performance using this system
is approved without being performer conscious as shown in Figure

NAGASHIMA , Y. 2003. Bio-sensing systems and bio-feedback
systems for interactive media arts. In Proceedings of the 2003
Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, National
University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, NIME ’03, 48–53.
TAMAKI , E., M IYAKI , T., AND R EKIMOTO , J. 2011. Possessedhand: Techniques for controlling human hands using electricalmuscles stimuli. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on
Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, New York, NY,USA, CHI ’11, 543–552.