( CNN ) Ever since musician Eduardo Miranda met a patient with locked in syndrome 11 years ago , he has been on a mission to create a way for the paralyzed to make music . His latest invention is the brain computer music interface ( BCMI ) which allows people to create music using just their eyes . How it works . By connecting electrodes to the back of the head , the system can tell where you 're looking by monitoring brain activity . Flashing icons representing different snippets of music appear on screen and you can make a selection , just by staring at one . In real time , a musician plays a score generated from the user 's selections . `` Our brain is producing electricity all the time , '' says Miranda , head of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research at Plymouth University . `` These are very faint electrical signals but we can amplify and analyze them . Let 's say you have two icons on the computer screen : one flashing at 10 hertz and the other flashing at 15 hertz . If you look at the one flashing at 15 hertz , we can detect it . '' `` We can detect up to eight different frequencies at the moment , '' explains Eduardo Miranda who is helped by a team of doctoral students and research assistants at his lab . `` My latest composition is for a string quartet . It 's an interaction between eight people , four of them generating music and the others playing the music as its being generated . `` The score for the quartet is a computer monitor rather than sheet music so the musicians have to be quite skilled and perform the piece as it 's generated . '' Listen to Miranda 's string quartet playing using the BCMI . Motivation . Speaking of his inspiration for the project , Miranda says : `` I wanted to create something to enable people with severe disabilities to make music . I was struck by an encounter I had once with a man who had had a stroke and was paralyzed completely from the neck down . `` That had a profound impact on me and I thought , as a musician , how I could provide a voice for him -- that 's where this research began . '' He adds : `` A few years ago I tested a prototype with a paralyzed patient in a hospital in London he was able to play music by looking as these icons . The nurses and carers there told me that one of the things that these patients really miss is interaction with other people , not with machines . That 's how this system was created . '' Funding . It has been 11 years since Miranda started his lab , with financial support from Plymouth University as well as securing funding throughout the years . He has also been successful in securing funding from engineering organizations such as the UK 's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council . `` It was very difficult at the beginning to convince people that this research could work and produce something useful . It sounded like science fiction to begin with , people did n't believe it . But as I began to produce results , papers and scientific journals , it became easier to put the arguments on paper . '' Future plans . Miranda is now working on making the system more robust and user-friendly . But it might be a while before his technology hits the shops , not least because it costs around £10,000 ( around $ 15,600 ) . `` I do n't think I would sell the BCMI , the problem is that the hardware is very expensive ... all the electrodes you need we have to buy ourselves . `` I would be quite happy to give away the software to people who really need it , provided they are able to buy the hardware . '' `` We have seen companies selling equipment ( at ) a tenth of the price of ours promising a lot of things , but when you really test them they do n't compare to ours . `` It 's going to take a long time for this to become cheap , '' he says . But you may soon be able to try out the software in your local `` brain booth . '' `` We are working on a project , which will allow the public to use the system in a 'brain booth ' and download the music they create from the internet afterward . `` You do n't need musical talent to use the system , but the more you understand music the easier it is for you -- if you understand for example that crochets are quicker than semi-quavers you have an idea of what you 're selecting -- but after 10 seconds you hear the snippet of music you chose being played by the string quartet , so you learn quickly . '' Julie Tugwell , from the Queen Elizabeth 's Foundation for Disabled People , who was involved with a similar project , thinks the technology could have wider applications . `` It was amazing to explore how technology can help to unleash the creativity within people that they may find difficulty expressing through traditional methods . '' `` We 're also looking forward to seeing how brain-wave technology might , in the near future , be able to control other types of equipment such as wheelchairs or computers , '' she says .
Eduardo Miranda has created a system which allows people to make music using their eyes . The system uses electrodes and was inspired by people suffering from paralysis . The musician and professor has a research lab at the University of Plymouth .