About

Juan Pampin, born in Buenos Aires in 1967, is a Professor of composition at the University of Washington and serves as the Director of the Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS), where he is a founding faculty member. He holds an MA in Composition from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon, France, and a DMA in Composition from Stanford University, where he studied with composer Jonathan Harvey. Pampin's work explores the concepts of space, memory, and material through the use of algorithmic composition and signal processing tools of his own development. His compositions, which include works for instrumental, digital, and mixed media, have been performed internationally by renowned soloists and ensembles. Notably, his piece 'On Space' for percussion sextet and 3D electronic sounds has been released on a CD as part of Les Percussions de Strasbourg's 50th anniversary historical edition published by Universal France.

Research topics

• Computer science
• Acoustics
• Speech recognition
• Programming language
• Psychology

Selected publications

• Musical auditory feedback BCI: clinical pilot study of the Encephalophone

  Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · 2025-06-16

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Introduction: Therapeutic strategies for patients with severe acquired motor disability are relatively limited and show variable efficacy. Innovative technologies such as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have been developed recently that might benefit certain types of patients. Methods: Here, we tested a previously described auditory BCI, the Encephalophone, which may offer new options to improve quality of life and function. Eleven subjects with acquired moderate to severe motor disability, who had lost their ability to express themselves musically, were enrolled and 10 completed a clinical pilot study of the hands-free Encephalophone brain-computer interface (BCI). Subjects were briefly instructed on the use of the Encephalophone BCI, which uses EEG measured motor imagery to allow users to generate musical notes in real time without requiring movement. Subjects then underwent a pitch-matching task, a measure of accuracy, to attempt to match a given target pitch 3 times within 10 s. They were allowed free play, where they could improvise music over a backing track. After 2-3 songs - approximately 10 min - of freely improvised playing, subjects repeated the pitch-matching task. There were 3 sessions of testing and free play per subject, within 2 weeks, with at least 1 day separating sessions. Results: All subjects, on average, improved their pitch-matching accuracy by 15.6 percentage points and increased their number of hits by 58.7% over the 3 sessions, with all subjects scoring accuracy percentages significantly above random probability (19.05%). A subjective self-reporting survey of ratings of such factors as a feeling of expressing oneself, enjoyment, discomfort, and feeling of control showed a generally favorable response. Discussion: We suggest that this training approach using an auditory BCI may provide an innovative solution to challenges in recovery from motor disability. Clinical trial registration: https://research.providence.org/clinical-research, Swedish Health Services #: STUDY2017000301.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• EMBOSQUECERSE: Ecosistema audiovisual inmersivo. Un modelo de creación asistida

  Virtualis · 2024-12-28

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Este artículo examina la relación entre inteligencia artificial y creación artística a través de "Embosquecerse," una performance multimedia inmersiva creada por los autores en 2022. La obra representa territorios de creación que funcionan mediante la interacción de sistemas vivos y artificiales en equilibrio dinámico. La investigación mediada por tecnología de Juan Pampin y Abigail Jara busca expandir la potencia de lo humano, permitiéndose permear por el ordenamiento de lo vivo y su singularidad. En lugar de posicionar la IA como co-creadora, los autores proponen un modelo de creación asistida donde la tecnología funciona como herramienta dentro de un ecosistema complejo centrado en la creatividad humana. "Embosquecerse" utiliza mapas sonoros generados por IA a partir de grabaciones de bosques y redes neuronales que traducen movimientos de los intérpretes en parámetros audiovisuales. Este enfoque permite explorar el concepto de "embosquecerse" de Baptiste Morizot—un verbo reflexivo que describe una relación recíproca con la naturaleza donde "salimos al bosque y él se adentra en nosotros." La obra demuestra cómo la IA puede expandir el potencial creativo humano sin reducir la expresión artística a procesos algorítmicos, creando una experiencia sinestésica que mantiene la complejidad orgánica.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Encephalophone: A Novel Musical Biofeedback Device using Conscious Control of Electroencephalogram (EEG)

  Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · 2017-04-26 · 35 citations

  articleOpen access

  A novel musical instrument and biofeedback device was created using electroencephalogram (EEG) posterior dominant rhythm (PDR) or mu rhythm to control a synthesized piano, which we call the Encephalophone. Alpha-frequency (8-12 Hz) signal power from PDR in the visual cortex or from mu rhythm in the motor cortex was used to create a power scale which was then converted into a musical scale, which could be manipulated by the individual in real time. Subjects could then generate different notes of the scale by activation (event-related synchronization) or de-activation (event-related desynchronization) of the PDR or mu rhythms in visual or motor cortex, respectively. 15 novice normal subjects were tested in their ability to hit target notes presented within a five-minute trial period. All 15 subjects were able to perform more accurately (average of 27.4 hits, 67.1% accuracy for visual cortex/PDR signaling; average of 20.6 hits, 57.1% accuracy for mu signaling) than random note generation (19.03% accuracy). Moreover, PDR control was significantly more accurate than mu control. This shows that novice healthy individuals can control music with better accuracy than random, with no prior training on the device, and that PDR control is more accurate than mu control for these novices. Individuals with more years of musical training showed a moderate positive correlation with more PDR accuracy, but not mu accuracy. The Encephalophone may have potential applications both as a novel musical instrument without requiring movement, as well as a potential therapeutic biofeedback device for patients suffering from motor deficits (e.g. amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, brainstem stroke, traumatic amputation).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Can you hear the carbon rise? Evaluating multi-sensory climate media in undergraduate learning.

  AGUFM · 2017-12-01

  article
  Publisher

• APPLICATIONS OF ULTRASONIC SOUND BEAMS IN PERFORMANCE AND SOUND ART

  The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association · 2007-01-01 · 3 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Ultrasound technology has been used in many fields for measurement, imaging, and even therapeutic goals. Recently ultrasound has become available as a medium to create hyper-directional sound beams, enabling the ability to manipulate sound projection in a way analogous to light. This paper presents a brief overview of ultrasound audio technology, and introduces several lines of investigation related to applications of sound beams in performance and sound art currently under development at our center.

  Publisher

• Fístula anal de origen criptoglandular. Opciones terapéuticas

  Cirugía Española · 2005-12-01 · 4 citations

  reviewSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• On Space: for percussion sextet and computer-generated surround sounds

  2005-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• ATS: A System for Sound Analysis Transformation and Synthesis Based on a Sinusoidal plus Critical-Band Noise Model and Psychoacoustics

  The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association · 2004-01-01 · 4 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• ATS User Interfaces

  The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association · 2004-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• CARTAH/SMCC Studio Report

  The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association · 2000-01-01

  articleOpen access

  The Center serves a diverse group

  Publisher

Frequent coauthors

• Thomas A.S Deuel

  University of Washington

  2 shared

• Fernando López-Lezcano

  2 shared

• Richard Karpen

  1 shared

• Guillermo García

  Coventry (United Kingdom)

  1 shared

• Jacob Sundstrom

  University of California, San Diego

  1 shared

• Dargan M. W. Frierson

  University of Washington

  1 shared

• Cecilia M. Bitz

  University of Washington

  1 shared

• Dan Wyman

  1 shared