Universal Music Group has been a leader in merging the music and wellness industries in recent years.
In 2021, UMG partnered with MedRhythms, a company with $34 million in backing, to use its music for treating neurological injuries.
By 2022, Universal had become the exclusive launch partner for Vera, an AI-driven music app designed to provide UMG’s music catalog to people with dementia.
Last September, UMG introduced Sollos, a wellness app using cognitive science and proprietary audio technology to promote focus, relaxation, and sleep.
In 2023, Universal collaborated with Endel, a generative AI sound wellness startup, to create AI-powered, artist-driven functional music for various activities like sleep, running, and relaxation.
Recently, MBW discovered a patent application from Universal describing a technology that could revolutionize the wellness sector. The application, titled “Generating tonally compatible, synchronized neural beats for digital audio files,” outlines innovative systems for adding neural beats to existing tracks. These beats, played at specific frequencies, are designed to induce desired mental states such as improved focus, relaxation, or mood enhancement through neural entrainment.
Neural entrainment, which occurs when brain waves synchronize with a repetitive pattern like a musical beat, can improve focus, memory, creativity, and reduce stress. The patent explains that these neural beats can include monaural or binaural beats, combining a lower beat frequency with a higher carrier frequency. The desired mental state dictates the beat frequency, which may be lower than the range of human hearing.
Universal’s patent application, submitted in markets including the US, Canada, and Australia, details technology that analyzes a digital audio file’s pitch characteristics over time to select a carrier frequency for adding neural beats. The process involves extracting dominant pitch classes from chromagram features and using them to choose carrier frequencies for neural beats at various timestamps.
The application, credited to Elio Quinton, VP of Artificial Intelligence at UMG and founder of the Music & Audio Machine Learning Lab (MAML), describes how the neural beats are synthesized and stored for later use. They can be integrated into the audio track or played alongside it in real-time during streaming.
UMG’s invention aims to automatically add neural beats to existing music, allowing users to enjoy their favorite tracks while experiencing benefits like neural entrainment, relaxation, and improved focus. This technology could be incorporated into UMG’s wellness app Sollos, enhancing its offerings for focus, relaxation, and sleep.
