Extra Gum’s new purpose is to help people be their most resilient selves, one chew at a time.

This is most relevant to students, as paying attention has never been more challenging.

Inspired by the works of pioneering ambient artists like Brian Eno and sophisticated AI audio technologies like Endel, we developed an adaptive audio platform powered by artificial intelligence that sets any lecture recording to music, making long form content easier to chew on.

Today ambient and lofi music are hugely popular among millions of listeners and studies are starting to prove the calming, focus-boosting effects of the genre.

The tool was developed with an array of 200 neurodiverse students from London School of Economics, Queen Mary’s, Arden and Goldsmiths.

Once scaled, our mission is to use it to support 50 million neurodivergent students worldwide.

Classical and low fidelity music has been proven to help boost focus and aid recall.

So we created an adaptive music tool powered by artificial intelligence that sets any lecture recording to music. This tool leverages AI and machine learning techniques alongside an array of existing algorithms and technologies, to create a novel innovative tech stack, which scans the audio data from lecture files for pace and pauses, selects a track with a similar pace and motifs and then blends the two together to create a lecture recording set to music.

The 8 bit lo-fi design was created with the intention of being as soothing and as simple to navigate as possible.

This is a working prototype that will later be released at scale. The architecture of this prototype has been designed to scale and handle increasing volumes of data and user requests, by integrating a robust database infrastructure for increased content storage and computation.

It was developed with a cohort of 200 neurodiverse students, most of whom found it strongly appealing; on average, it rated 4/5 for both positivity towards the tool and usefulness.

Responses also indicated that this tool, once fully developed, would trigger significant behaviour change amongst neurodiverse students. For both likelihood to use the tool regularly in their lecture viewing routines, and likelihood of telling their friends about the tool, they rated the tool an average of 4/5.

The current prototype is the first iteration of the tool and our ambition is to continue to invest, iterate and improve the technology to better serve students worldwide.

Leveraging sophisticated AI algorithms, we’ve created a brand new adaptive music learning tool.

This innovative tech stack comprises several systems, the first of which dynamically generates a unique set of musical parameters and motifs based on individual personas to create a tailored auditory backdrop.

Next, patterns in the file are analysed to determine the beats per minute, and a music track with a comparable tempo and motifs is selected. Cross fades and strategic edit points maintain a fluid listening experience, creating a coherent, harmonious audio blend.

To enhance the track’s calming effect, ambient sounds like rainfall or brown noise are integrated, before the final composite track undergoes automated synchronisation with the lecture, using AI-driven adjustments to balance the clarity of sound levels.

Harnessing the power of AI and machine learning, the tool caters to unique moods and activities, contributing to an environment conducive to focus and relaxation.

This is the first iteration of the technology, with further investment and development in the pipeline.

We developed the prototype with a cohort of 200 neurodiverse students.

The prototype strongly appealed to the students; on average it rated 4/5 for both positivity towards the tool and usefulness.

Responses also indicated that this tool, once fully developed, would trigger significant behaviour change amongst neurodiverse students. For both likelihood to use the tool regularly in their lecture viewing routines, and likelihood of telling their friends about the tool, they rated the tool an average of 4/5.

The development of and commitment to this breakthrough tool also made 70% of the students feel more positively about the Extra Gum brand.

The current prototype is the first iteration of the tool and our ambition is to continue to invest, iterate and improve the technology to better serve students worldwide, getting millions of students to see Extra Gum in a new light.