• HomeSweet home
  • Writingby David Eagleman
    • The Runaway SpeciesHow Human Creativity Remakes the World
    • Brain and BehaviorA Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective
    • The BrainThe Story of You
    • IncognitoThe Secret Lives of the Brain
    • SUMForty Tales from the Afterlives
    • Wednesday is Indigo BlueDiscovering the Brain of Synesthesia
    • Why the Net MattersHow the Internet Will Save Civilization
    • Other WritingEssays and articles
    • Scientific Publications
  • ResearchDavid's Neuroscience
    • Time perception
    • Synesthesia
    • Neurolaw
    • Deep brain recording
    • Sensory Substitution
    • Antiphospholipid Syndrome
    • Other projects
  • BlogLatest Ideas
  • ScheduleWhere to catch David
  • ContactReach Us

Sensory Substitution

Can sensory data be fed through unusual sensory channels?  And can the brain learn to extract the meaning of such information streams?

Yes and yes. Sensory substitution is a non-invasive technique for circumventing the loss of one sense by feeding its information through another channel. We are leveraging this technique to develop a non-invasive, low-cost vibratory vest to allow those with deafness or severe hearing impairments to perceive auditory information through small vibrations on their torso.

VAC

(Figure from Scott Novich and David Eagleman)

 Watch a video explaining the background and future of the Vest from the TED2015 conference:

To make this work, we are capitalizing on recent advances in audio codecs and digital signal processing. In parallel, we are forging new research paths to maximize the information capacity of skin--for example, by using small 'sweeps' of vibratory motors rather than a single motor that turns on and off. As it turns out, people are much better at detecting these sweeps (green data points, below):

VACprelimData

(Data from Novich and Eagleman, 2015)

 

For the larger theoretical ideas behind this project, see a 3 minute video on BigThink: Welcome to Your Future Brain.

The long term goal of our work is to better understand how sensory streams can be re-packaged into atypical sensory channels to restore perception or give new perceptions. Beyond applications for hearing, this research will contribute to a generalized framework for designing devices to send any kinds of information to the brain for sensory processing via atypical sensory modalities. Such a framework will feed both rehabilitative and assistive technologies

For more on the principles of neural plasticity that underlie this work, please keep an eye out for David's upcoming book on brain plasticity, LiveWired.

Follow David on Instagram Follow David on Tumblr Follow David on Twitter Follow David on Facebook

From the Blog

  • Time to End the War on Drugs?
    Time to End the War on Drugs?

    To liberalise or prohibit?  I joined Eliot Spitzer, Julian Assange, Vicente Fox, Russell Brand, Richard Branson and several others for an online debate.

  • Time perception on the Discovery Channel
    Time perception on the Discovery Channel

    Watch an experiment in which we studied time perception by dropping volunteer subjects from a 150 foot high tower.  Free fall.

  • Italy's STYLE magazine: Idea Guys
    Italy's STYLE magazine: Idea Guys

    Think it's unlikely for a scientist to be featured on the cover of an Italian fashion magazine? Me too! But strange things happen...

  • British musician Jarvis Cocker reads from Sum
    British musician Jarvis Cocker reads from Sum

    Hear British rocker Jarvis Cocker read the short story "Descent of Species" from Sum.

TheBrain
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound
DVD
Incognito_Cover_Eagleman
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound
International Editions
SumBestSeller
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound
International Editions
Cover Cytowic Eagleman
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound
NetMatters ebook
iPad app
eBook
DVD
CogNeuroTextbook
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IndieBound
Runaway Species Hardcover

Amazon
IndieBound

Livewired Canongate sm
Coming late 2019
CSS Valid | XHTML Valid | Top | + | - | reset | RTL | LTR
Copyright © Youretro 2019 All rights reserved. Custom Design by Youjoomla.com
YJSimpleGrid Joomla! Templates Framework official website
Sensory Substitution