The phrase ‘All in all, it’s just another brick in the wall’ comes through in the audio file, marking the first time researchers have reconstructed a recognisable song from brain recordings. 

To achieve this, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, captured the electrical activity recorded by 2,668 electrodes placed on 29 patients’ brains while they listened to the 1979 rock song and used nonlinear modelling to reconstruct it. 

The findings could potentially be used to improve devices help people with speech difficulties. 

“It's a wonderful result,” said Robert Knight, a neurologist and UC Berkeley professor of psychology. “As this whole field of brain-machine interfaces progresses, this gives you a way to add musicality to future brain implants for people who need it, someone who’s got ALS [amyotrophic lateral sclerosis] or some other disabling neurological or developmental disorder compromising speech output.

“It gives you an ability...