Moodagent Proving to Be More Than Just an iPhone App

Syntonetic, creator of Moodagent music profiling and recommendation technology, has announced that uses for its iPhone application may extend far beyond instant playlist creation. More than 1,000,000 listeners have used Moodagent technology to enjoy their favorite music, but now the Moodagent app is beginning to turn the heads of psychologists interested in the effects of music on emotions.

Moodagent creates instant playlists by allowing the listener to adjust touchscreen sliders labeled Sensual, Tender, Joy, Aggressive and Tempo. These sliders determine the characteristics of the music added to that playlist. Playlist creation aside, some psychologists are interested in the application’s ability to quantify emotion.

Typically, psychologists measure emotion via surveys, asking people to verbally indicate their mood. Emotion can also be gleaned from tone of voice and facial expression. Like a person, Moodagent can perform a complicated series of analyses to measure the emotional qualities of a song.

Dr. David Echevarria, professor of psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi, believes Moodagent may prove useful as a teaching tool to help stimulate critical thinking about the impact of music on emotions. “As a psychologist, I am fascinated that a mobile application can discern subtle and elusive emotional qualities in music,” he said. “There are some individuals with various disorders who find this an extremely challenging – if not impossible – task, and here we have a app that can do it! Moodagent is essentially a form of artificial social intelligence.”

“I’m hoping to use Moodagent as a teaching tool to stimulate conversation, learning and critical thinking in the area of emotions and psychology,” said Echevarria.

Syntonetic will exhibit the mobile application and music profiling and recommendation technology at this week’s Macworld 2010, in the Mobile Application Showcase, Booth #1366, Kiosk #57. Moodagent experts will provide live demos for event attendees. You can download Moodagent for free on iTunes App Store.