Speakerless Headphones?

talking about something like this?

No, that device creates sound waves by vibrating the plane it's attached to. From what I remember the device I'm looking for does not not create soundwaves at all but completely bypasses your eardrum and somehow "beams" the sound into your brain. It looked simular to a regular headset, but you wore it on your temples instead of your ears. Sounds crazy doesn't it? I'm just wondering where the technology has gone from when I saw the popular science write up on it.

Le> talking about something like this?

There was something talked about, decades ago. I don't know if it's the same thing you saw. But people were talking about being able to induce sound directly back in 1972.

I don't know if there was any truth to it. About twenty years ago, I found a book by Harry G. Stine who mentioned something about it. I can't recall the title, but it was non-fiction.

Michael

I'm extremely doubtful about this. The auditory system is a parallel channel system: The inner ear decomposes the sound into constituent frequencies via a sort of mechanical spectrum analyzer. The individual frequency channels are encoded separately and run in parallel neurons to the rest of the auditory system and the brain. If the Popular Science device somehow created actual sound waves, the system would work normally. There are indeed electrical effects on tissue that can create sound directly, but nothing that you would want to listen to or tolerate for long periods.

But direct stimulation of the neurons is not feasible, because the gadget would somehow have to analyze the sound (FFT?) and then apply each component to the proper target neuron. This is what the cochlear prosthesis attempts to do, though with only a handful of electrodes it's definitely not "hi fi". There are also research projects underway that seek to implant electrode arrays at higher "way stations" that the neural signals pass through, but they are a long ways from fruition. Part of the problem is just figuring out the encoding scheme, since each step higher in the processing chain adds additional processing. Another part of the problem is locating "tonotopic" regions to implant the electrodes, so you can match the stimulated electrodes to the results of the spectral analysis.

My guess is that the Popular Science thing was either their typical blus-sky pipe dream, *or* it was a gadget that could stimulate the brain directly (via magnetic fields, for instance) and create some general auditory sensation. You could use such a device to send code, but not music. (Possibly speech, with lots of training. The earliest cochlear prostheses had only a single electrode to stimulate the auditory nerve. The effect was that you could hear the cadence of speech, and it was helpful in conjunction with lip-reading. Nobody ever got to the stage of understanding a telephone conversation without seeing the talker, using only a single channel.)

Best regards,

Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

Maybe it was a bone conduction device.

However, there is a patent issued to G. P. Flanagan for this device. I did not read the text. But you can go to the USPTO site and search for the patent number mentioned in the above link. ERS

NO, I suspect it's the "Neurophone". This is what I was referring to in an earlier post, and after I posted, I looked up a post of mine when a similar question had been asked.

There's a page about the device here:

I have no idea whether there's any reality to the device. It seems wrapped in too much "they are trying to suppress it" claims.

THe Harry G. Stine book I mentioned is called "Silicon Gods".

Michael

I checked out the site you mentioned.

I must say that after spending a couple of decades involved with hearing research, I now see that it was all for nothing. I will have to tell my old associates at the Kresge Hearing Research Institute at the University of Michigan that they have wasted their careers on science, when they could have been harnessing the limitless powers of ESP. What a tragedy that this brilliant invention has been so cruelly suppressed. I assume that was done by the sinister hearing aid cartel, so they could continue their control of the market on their way to world domination. ;-)

(Sigh. Maybe some inventions *deserve* to be "suppressed"... especially when they are blatant scams!)

Best regards,

Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

A magazine add I remember from ~70s had a babe (in yellow attire, IIRC) jogging with what seemed to be a towell (curiously yellow as well) around her neck. The add was for a speakerless radio. The add said it was supposed to vibrate and pass the vibrations to the ear through the bones. Never saw that babe again. I think muscle and skin atenuates the vibrations. Let me know If you find it or build a working unit, my neighbor's kid likes to listen to loud cRAP.

buena suerte.