A PARALYSED woman has played music just by thinking about it.

Boffins at Essex University were involved in the ground-breaking experiment which will now offer real hope to people trapped by their severe disability.

The woman who took part in the trial had been paralysed after suffering a stroke and is only able to make eye, facial and slight head movements.

The trial, a joint project between Dr Palani Ramaswamy, of the University’s School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, and computer-music specialist Eduardo Miranda of the University of Plymouth, involved using brainwaves to operate a computerised music system.

Using electroencephalography (EEG), the patient wore a cap with electrodes which picked up different patterns in the brainwaves depending on what she was looking at on a screen.

In this case it was objects flickering at different frequencies.

This “frequency-following effect” was then adapted using control mechanisms, so the different frequencies related to different musical instruments which the patient operated with her eyes.

Dr Ramaswamy said: “She later said the experiment made her feel back in control again for the first time since her stroke.”

“But what made this trial so innovative, was that the intensity of how she was looking at the screen in terms of concentration offered even more control and, in this case, more notes for each instrument.”

After a couple of hours, the patient was able to play a mini orchestra solo, just by brainpower alone.

This is the first time a trial had being held with the help of someone with a severe disability.

The findings of this study are published online in the journal Music and Medicine and Dr Ramaswamy is now hoping the trial’s success will attract funding to extend his research even further.