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Jörg Fachner is a passionate musician and enthusiast; someone who understands the emotional power and impact that a piece of music—any music—can have on memory and moods. All this underpins his day job: Fachner is professor of music, health and the brain at Anglia Ruskin University, as well as co-director of the University’s Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research.
For the past two decades, Fachner has been able to channel his passion and enthusiasm for music and performance into the academic pursuit of how we react and respond to sound and music, and how this benefits new approaches to therapy. Fachner’s academic explorations were directly inspired by his background as a musician. After training as a social scientist and an educationalist in music therapy, he has focused his research on how the brain reacts to music in conjunction with active therapeutic sessions. “I was just curious about physiological basis of my own experiences,” he explains.
The Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy Research works with both traditional hands-on listening therapies as well as neuroscience research that delves deep into cognition using an electroencephalogram (EEG) to analyse emotions and imagery. “Music can be a symbol of an emotional experience, which is bound up in the imagery and presentation, not the fidelity,” he explains. “But certain frequency ranges and tempos can also have an effect on our emotions. Rhythm relates to heartbeat, for example. Conversely, if you engage people’s trophotropic systems then you might generate relaxation. You can take people on a journey.”
Transforming the journey is at the heart of the Range Rover Sport SV Body and Soul Seat innovation. Developed in collaboration with Californian audio startup SUBPAC™, the process involved dovetailing their haptic response into the SV’s audio system, using SUBPAC™’s technology alongside research and development conducted at Coventry University. Duncan Smith, program group lead at JLR, oversaw the process. “We knew what we wanted the Range Rover Sport SV to be in terms of performance and dynamics, but when we were developing the car, we were looking for innovations that really excited and inspired our clients, especially taking their broader interests into account,” he explains. “SUBPAC™’s technology had never been used in a car before, so it seemed like a good fit.”
Each Body and Soul Seat incorporates four transducers, capable of emitting pulses of low frequency energy at around 100hz. Specially developed AI modules are used to analyse and split the original sound source, and share that information between the seats and the Range Rover Sport SV’s 29 speakers. By separating and enhancing the low-end frequencies, the experience of the music is transformed. “The Body and Soul Seat optimizes the signals and improves the way we perceive music—and not just bass-heavy dance music, but any genre,” says Smith. “It conveys incredible detail and fidelity in the original recording.”
There’s another important element to the Body and Soul Seat's technology. Fachner describes how his department’s research has shown how a particular piece of music can induce chills. “The limbic system becomes active, leading to a cascade of dopamine being released that then makes us feel better,” he explains. This correlation between emotion, music, and the physical sensation of low frequency sound is taken to the limit by the Range Rover Sport SV. Integrated into the audio system are six unique pieces of music: Poise, Soothe, Serene, Cool, Tonic, and Glow, which have been shaped to use the Body and Soul Seat’s low frequencies to influence the heart rate, and therefore the psychological wellbeing, of the front-seat occupants.
“We’ve been working on this for three years—that’s approximately 25,000 hours of engineering time,” says Smith. “Half of this time went into the seat itself—the hardware—and the rest on tuning the haptics and optimizing the AI. To source the music, we worked with Coventry University, as we have a very close relationship with them through their automotive design and engineering courses.”
JLR’s team also commissioned a study into the benefits of haptics, which demonstrated how particular low frequencies could influence stress, as well as awareness. “It’s a natural therapy for our clients,” says Smith. The next step was to incorporate these effects into music that made the most of the transducers’ low-end ability. “We joined forces with PhD students and researchers from Coventry University's music department,” Smith says. “The aim was to create six compositions that evoke a range of responses, from relaxation through to invigoration. It’s all about personalizing your driving experience depending on your mood.”
For Jörg Fachner, this correlation between sound and mood is at the heart of music’s role in therapy, both now and in the future. “Our research is interested in how music is created as a social product and how this is organized on a cortical and limbic level,” he says. “We don’t really understand the individual differences yet—it’s all dependent on the situation and learning. However, we can improve our music therapy assessment and intervention techniques by learning how our brains allow us to emphatically understand what is going on in the patient.”
Being in a car can add a whole new layer of musical interpretation and experience, especially when it comes through the Range Rover Sport SV’s sophisticated Meridian Signature Sound System. “It’s interesting, because associations can change with scenery or place,” says Fachner. “You might have a strong emotional connection to a particular journey. If you associate a piece of music with this trip, your emotional state could be heightened, making you excited or calmer, for example. And good sound is an aesthetic that helps you to listen differently and in a more distinct way.”
Ultimately, Range Rover Sport SV’s Body and Soul Seat adds another dimension to in-car audio, both in terms of wellness and in quality of sound. “We hope that our clients enjoy the wellness benefits, of course, but what we’re most proud of is the fidelity of technology and the extra musical information your body receives through the Body and Soul Seat,” Smith says. “Our objective was not to mutate or alter the music, but to get the maximum feeling from it. I believe we’re giving the client the absolute pinnacle of musical information.”
Learn how you can experience a new era of audio performance in the Range Rover Sport SV here.
