To:J.R. Bruman <[log in to unmask]>
3527 Cody Road
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013 (818) 789-3694
From:Jonathan Kramer ([log in to unmask]) fax/phone: [914] 265-2752
RR1 Box 127b
Cold Spring, NY 10516
Hi Joe,
Here is the summary of my proposal I promised to send. My intention is to
send the idea to DBS researchers who might be interested. I went to a
local University library to research the topic, and did come back with a
couple of articles, but I'm not sure this is the most efficient way of
locating the relevant research centers and investigators. Surfing the
internet seems more fruitful. I would appreciate the hyperlink to that
"pubmed" resource you mentioned.
I look forward to hearing from you,
All the best,
Jonathan
"sonification" allows multi-parameter information to be rendered as a
single, custom designed, "sound stream", by the mapping of electronic
signals to complex sounds. There has been some giant steps in this area,
and only a small and obscure group of scientific investigators are aware of
these developments, or had time to contemplate the implications. Coupled
with deep brain stimulation, sonnification may be a useful tool in
perceiving and altering the neurodynamics in real time.
Recent technology makes it theoretically possible to create a display with
which a neurologically impaired person would be part of the “loop”
receiving and responding to the brains electrodynamic state with
articulation and immediacy.
The neurophysiological factors that have the most compelling effects on the
functioning of the system involved in Parkinson’s Disease, determined by
evoked potential experiments or other means are presumably what would be
manipulated. These may include frequency, amplitude, location site within
the brain, sequencing, etc.
Perhaps two different electrical frequencies would be fed simultaneously
to separate electrode sites, or the same frequencies fed in varying
sequence patterns . Or stimulation might be made contingent upon signals
received from various electrode sites. Naturally this would be a
cumbersome process by trial and error alone. But with the brain itself
being part of the loop, this might be a whole different ball game.
Thirty years ago, in a series of experiments at Smith Kettlewell Institute,
a video camera and matrix of stimulators was used to create images on the
back of non-sighted subjects [thus using the back as a "retina"]. When
subjects in these experiments were given control of the camera, their
understanding of what they were looking at "out there" took a qualitative
leap forward. Perhaps similar advances may be found by combining
sonification with deep brain stimulation in a feedback loop.
