In 2010, Dr. Charles Limb infiltrated Baltimore’s Hip Hop scene for a study on the parallels between that free form art and “traditional” jazz. On Thursday, October 20th, Dr Limb will detail his findings with a Keynote address at the 131st AES Convention at NY’s Javits Center. Sound, Hearing and Music: A Journey From The Ears to The Brain, will explore the physical and intellectual intricacies of musical creativity; its inception and perception.
In announcing the address, 131st Convention Chair Jim Anderson remarked, “Dr. Limb’s innovative research into the parallel fields of technology and musical creativity exemplifies the AES mission. His study of brain function in improvising musicians is sure to provide valuable insights.”
“At first glance, the free-form art of musical improvisation and the meticulous environment of the research lab seem to make strange bedfellows,” Dr. Limb remarked. “But through the application of rigorous scientific methods to the study of musicians, we have been able to get a glimpse of how this remarkable process of artistic creativity takes place in the brain.”
An Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Dr. Limb is a hearing specialist and saxophonist. His groundbreaking work on how the brain develops and assimilates musical creativity has been featured by NPR, PBS, National Geographic, Scientific American, the Smithsonian Institute, the New York Times, Library of Congress and the American Museum of Natural History.
A Faculty Member at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Dr. Limb received his undergraduate degree at Harvard, his medical degree at Yale, and completed his surgical training at Johns Hopkins Hospital. His current research focuses on the neural basis of musical improvisation and the study of music perception in deaf individuals with cochlear implants.
