Summary: That spine-tingling shiver you get when a song hits just right—known as a “musical chill”—is more than just a feeling; it’s a profound neurological event. Until now, these moments were unpredictable and fleeting, but researchers have developed a breakthrough system called the Chill Brain-Music Interface (C-BMI) to trigger them on demand.
The study introduces compact in-ear EEG sensors that decode pleasure signals directly from the listener’s brain in real-time. Unlike traditional streaming algorithms that guess what you like based on history, this “closed-loop” system listens to your brain’s response and instantly adjusts the playlist to amplify emotional impact, significantly increasing the frequency of chills and overall well-being.
Key Facts
- The “Chill” Trigger: C-BMI identifies the exact moment the brain’s reward system spikes, allowing the system to learn which acoustic patterns trigger your specific “chills.”
- Beyond History-Based Lists: While Spotify or Apple Music use historical data, C-BMI uses real-time neural decoding, outperforming standard algorithms in creating pleasure.
- Compact In-Ear EEG: The technology fits inside standard-style earphones, replacing bulky laboratory caps with a wearable that can be used during commutes or before sleep.
- Psychological Boost: Participants using the brain-synced playlists reported higher scores in categories like stress reduction and a greater sense of life purpose.
- Mental Health Tool: Researchers believe this “low-barrier intervention” could help manage daily anxiety by aligning music with a person’s fluctuating internal state.
Source: Keio University
Most people are familiar with ‘musical chills’—a sudden, involuntary shiver or goosebump sensation that occurs when a song resonates perfectly with one’s emotions. These chills are not just a surface-level feeling, but a profound neurological event.
When we experience intense musical pleasure, parts of the brain’s reward system activate in a manner similar to how they would respond to life-affirming stimuli, such as beloved foods or positive social connections.
However, despite the universal nature of the experience, musical chills are difficult to trigger reliably. This limits our ability to harness their psychological and physiological benefits, even with today’s on-demand access to vast libraries of music.
The issue lies partly in how ‘personalized’ media streaming algorithms are designed. These systems are essentially blind to a user’s current internal state and rely instead on historical data, genre preferences, or acoustic features like tempo to suggest content.
Therefore, they cannot detect whether a listener is actually connecting with a specific track at the moment to improve suggestions. But what if our earphones could read the brain’s response to music as it happens?
In a study recently published in Volume 29, Issue 1 of iScience, a research team led by Dr. Shinya Fujii (Associate Professor, Corresponding author) and Dr. Sotaro Kondoh (JSPS Research Fellow, first author) of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies at Keio University, Japan, has developed a novel solution to bring real-time brain monitoring into everyday music listening.
Their paper, published on January 16, 2026, introduces the ‘Chill Brain-Music Interface (C-BMI),’ a system that employs compact in-ear electroencephalography (EEG) sensors to decode pleasure from the listener’s brain and use that data to build an optimized playlist in real time.
The methodology involved a multi-phase approach comprising recording, modeling, and evaluation. Initially, each participant listened to self-selected songs (high pleasure) and songs selected by another participant (low pleasure) while their brain activity was monitored via the in-ear sensors. From this data, the researchers built two personalized models for each participant.
The first model predicted pleasure based on the acoustic features of the music, while the second decoded the listener’s pleasurable state from the EEG signals. Finally, these models were combined in closed-loop systems that generated playlists designed to either augment or diminish pleasure, with real-time neural decoding incorporated in some playlists but not others.
The results conclusively demonstrated that the EEG-updated playlist for augmenting pleasure was more effective than the other generated playlists. In other words, participants reported the highest number of chills and superior pleasure ratings when the system was allowed to adapt to their brain activity.
The researchers found that C-BMI successfully captured neural markers of pleasure with high accuracy and, when using them to suggest music, outperformed the ‘acoustics-only’ methods that mimic current commercial streaming services.
A critical advantage of the proposed system is its size, especially when compared to brain-computer interfaces with more conventional EEG recording setups used in laboratories.
“Using an in-ear EEG device with earphones offers a practical, comfortable, and accessible alternative, opening new possibilities not only for neuroscience research investigating music and the brain—which is fundamental to understanding human nature—but also for future daily applications in entertainment and human–computer interaction,” says Dr. Fujii.
Notably, the research team explored how this technology could impact broader psychological well-being. Participants using the EEG-informed playlists reported higher scores in categories such as stress reduction and a sense of life purpose, showcasing the benefits of aligning music selection with a person’s fluctuating internal state.
“If this non-invasive system could be integrated with in-ear earphones equipped with EEG sensors and wellness and music streaming apps, it could offer emotional support during commutes, before sleep, or in daily life,” remarks Dr. Kondoh.
As mental distress becomes increasingly prevalent, especially among young people, C-BMI may prove effective as a low-barrier intervention, ideal for those who might hesitate to seek traditional psychiatric care. The researchers will continue to refine the C-BMI and similar interfaces, hoping to develop systems that enhance the positive effects of the simple and universal act of listening to music.
Funding information
This work was supported by JST COI-NEXT (Grant No. JPMJPF2203) and JSPS KAKENHI (Grant No. 24KJ1930).
Key Questions Answered:
A: Because they are a universal human experience that activates the same reward pathways as food or social bonding. When you get the chills, your brain is releasing a surge of dopamine, making it a powerful natural tool for mood regulation.
A: No, but it can “detect” when you aren’t connecting with a track. If the C-BMI doesn’t see the specific neural markers of pleasure, it realizes the current song isn’t working and pivots to a melody more likely to trigger that “peak” emotional response.
A: The researchers hope so. By moving EEG sensors into the ear canal, they’ve made it possible for future consumer earbuds to act as an “emotional support” device that automatically curates the perfect soundtrack for your current mental state.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- Journal paper reviewed in full.
- Additional context added by our staff.
About this musical chills and neurotech research news
Author: Shinya Fujii
Source: Keio University
Contact: Shinya Fujii – Keio University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“A chill brain-music interface for enhancing music chills with personalized playlists” by Sotaro Kondoh, Takahide Etani, Yuna Sakakibara, Yasushi Naruse, Yasuhiko Imamura, Takuya Ibaraki, and Shinya Fujii. iScience
DOI:10.1016/j.isci.2025.114508
Abstract
A chill brain-music interface for enhancing music chills with personalized playlists
Music chills are physical sensations, such as goosebumps, linked to intense pleasure and engage the brain’s reward system. However, individual differences in music preferences and neural responses make it difficult to enhance these experiences consistently.
To address this issue, we developed the chill brain-music interface (C-BMI), a neurofeedback system that uses an in-ear electroencephalogram (EEG) to create personalized playlists.
For each participant, we built two regression models: one predicting pleasure from acoustic features, and another decoding pleasure from EEG data.
Using these models, four playlists were generated: two designed to enhance pleasure and two to reduce it. In each pair, one playlist incorporated real-time EEG-based updates, whereas the other relied solely on acoustic features.
The EEG-updated pleasure-enhancing playlist elicited more subjective chills and higher pleasure ratings than the pleasure-reducing playlists, suggesting that adapting music selection to individual neural activities can amplify chills and emotional engagement with music.
