Abstract— Music is known to have positive effects on humans, enhances learning and aids the healing process. This paper presents the outcomes of a preliminary research that investigates a subject’s reaction when exposed to live violin music. An electroencephalogram machine (EEG) and a computer was used to observe and record the subject’s brainwaves activities in three phases; before, during, and after listening to violin music in order to compare the subjects brainwaves reaction during this three phases/conditions. Preliminary results from this investigation indicate that while listening to a live performance of violin music, the subject’s brain induced both left and right brainwaves (theta, alpha and beta brainwaves) to be balanced. The study points to a possible relationship between frequency and power emitted by live music in affecting human brainwaves, suggesting further research in this domain. I. INTRODUCTION Different types of sounds can be heard in our surroundings. Some sounds are soothing while others may be irritating or even hazardous. Music is sound organized in varying rhythmic, melodic and dynamic patterns performed on different instruments. Much research has been conducted on the effects of music on learning [1-5] and its therapeutic role during rehabilitation [6-11]. Past studies have demonstrated that music not only affects humans but also impact on animals [12, 13], plants [14] and bacterial growth [15]. Each type of sound has its own range of frequencies and power, affecting listeners in positive or negative ways. Organized sound in Western Classical music is generally soothing to the human ear. On the other hand, very loud sounds or noise, which emits power of more than 85 dB may cause permanent hearing loss in humans when exposed continuously to it for a period of more than eight hours [16]. Unwanted sounds are unpleasant to humans and may cause stress and hypertension [17] as well as affect the cognitive function of children [18]. Sound in the form of music has been used positively in Manuscript received April 20 th , 2012. This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Malaysia, JPTS(BPKI)2000/09/01JLD.11(S2) 09/01JLD.11(S2). N. Buniyamin is with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam,40450, Malaysia, (phone: 603- 5543-6082; fax: 603-5543-5077; e-mail: nbuniyamin@salam.uitm.edu.my). H. Hassan, is with the Fac. of Elect. Eng., University Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam,40450, Malaysia, (e-mail:hasminda.hassan@gmail.com) Z.H. Murat is with the Fac. of Elect. Eng., University Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam,40450, Malaysia, (e-mail: zunairahh@yahoo.com ) V. Ross is with the Fac. of Music, University Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam,40450, Malaysia, (e-mail: vross@salam.uitm.edu.my) enhancing brain plasticity. Research has shown that listening to particular types of music can aid learning and encourage creativity in humans [19]. Music has been used in medical treatment such as improving mental illness [10], reducing anxiety and stress during medical treatments [6-8, 11, 20- 23], enhancing spatial-temporal reasoning [24, 25], generating higher brain functional skills in reading, literacy, mathematical abilities and enhancing emotional intelligence [2-5, 26]. Sound stimulation has even been used in the sterilization process [27, 28] and the growth of cells and bacteria [14, 15]. Hence, literature points to the positive effects of music on humans and its unique role in the learning process. This study explores the calming effect of music by inducing the alpha band in human brainwaves. The alpha band indicates the listener’s relaxed mood, thus promoting calmness [9]. This state aids the process of capturing information, thereby enhancing learning. Also, a relaxed mood suggests a lower level of anxiety. The purpose of this experiment is to study the reaction of a human brain towards sounds heard from live violin music. This instrument has been known to stimulate creativity among many eminent thinkers including Einstein and Thomas Jefferson [29]. The violin was created in early 16th century [30]. It is said to have the highest frequency range amongst stringed instruments, ranging from 200Hz to 3.5 kHz [31]. It is hypothesed that listening to live violin music may aid learning [32] by triggering the alpha wave and activating the left and right brain simultaneously. II. LITERATURE REVIEW A. Sounds and Brainwave Bands Sounds made by humans can be divided into verbal sound such as speaking and singing and non-verbal sound such as footsteps, breathing and snoring. Even without visual information, sound recognition abilities by humans and animals assist in detecting behaviorally relevant events [33]. Sound emerges when the vibrations of an object trigger the air surrounding it to vibrate, and this in turn causes the vibration of the human eardrum signaling the brain to interpret it as sound. Technically, a sound wave is any disturbance that is propagated in an elastic medium which may be a liquid, solid or gas and can be perceived by the hearing sense of a human being [34]. Sound is transmitted through a medium as longitudinal waves and transverse waves where the wavelength is expressed as (1): A Preliminary Study on the Effects of Music on Human Brainwaves Hasminda Hassan , Zunairah Haji Murat, Valerie Ross and Norlida Buniyamin 2012 International Conference on Control, Automation and Information Sciences (ICCAIS) ME02 978-1-4673-0813-7/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE 176