Neurophone
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NEUROPHONE BREAKTHROUGH
A Possible Mechanism for Neurophonic Action
The Neurophone is a new electronic invention that may enable us to
hear by a completely new information channel to the brain. Ordinary
hearing is the result of the stimulation of bones in the inner ear
by means of vibration. Sound waves may reach these bones through
ear canal via the ear drum, or by bone conduction in which sound
waves are conducted to the inner ear vibrations in the crainial
bones.
When the sound waves reach the inner ear, a vibration is set up in
the cochlea which then converts the waves into nerve inpulses that
travel up the 8th Crainial Nerve to the sound recognition centers
of the brain.
In 1958, Dr Flanagan, then a child of 14 developed a radio
transmitter that made the brain into a radio reciever. This device
transmits acoustic information to the brain by means of radio waves
into the skin, bypassing the 8th Crainial Nerve. When he applied
for a patent on the device, the patent examiner rejected the whole
thing saying that such a device would go against all known laws of
science. Over the following years, Dr Flanagan fought against
insurmontable odds to prove that the device did indeed work. In
the meantime, LIFE magazine ran a major article on Flanagan and
the Neurophone, naming him as one of the top ten scientists in
the US at the age of 17! In a final desperate move Flanagan flew
to the patent office with a model of his invention and successfully
demonstrated the device on a deaf employee in the patent examiner's
office. The deaf man heard music for the first time in 15 years and
broke down into tears. The examiner declared that the Neurophone
was indeed a basic patentable device and approved the patent for
release. Patent # 3,393,279 dated 16 July 1968..........
In the years that Dr Flanagan fought to recieve deserved recognition
by the patent office, he grew into manhood and was working on Man-
dolphin Communications for the US Navy when the patent was finally
issued. While involved in Man-Dolphin research, he became interested
in nerve signal information encoding, and began to develop electronic
circuits that duplicated the process of pattern recognition observed
in the human nervous system. This work led to research in
Cryptography.
During that period he developed a top secret sound scrambler that was
virtually impossible to decode. Part of the scrambler was based on
his research into nerve encoding.
Dr Flanagan believed that the pattern of nerve encoding used in the
human speech recognition system could be used to make a better
Neurophone. He succeeded in perfecting an electronic curcuit that
he believes duplicates the precise encoding of the Cochlea and 8th
Crainial Nerve. When he applied for a patent on the new circuit,
the patent aplication was immediately placed under top secrecy by
the National Security Agency. The only explnation given at the
time was that the circuit had potential uses in the defense of the
country. Dr Flanagan was happy that the government considered that
his device could be used in his country's defense. The only problem
was that the government wanted the device free, and he spent 14 years
on it.
He hired attorneys and challenged the secrecy order for over five
years. At the end of that period, the patent was released from secrecy
and was approved for issue by the patent office. Patent # 3,647,970
dated 7 Mar 1972.
Dr Flanagan then perfected the circuit for another five years. This
circuit recognizes time-relationships in the signal waveform, and
generates a square wave that is time encoded. Dr Flanagan believes
that the nervous system uses a complex delay line time recognition
computational system that recognises time information. (50KHZ square
wave pulse width audio modulation with double differentiator output)
In July of 1978, he successfully applied the Time Recognition
Processor to his Neurophone. When an audio signal is processed
through his circuit, it is converted into a form which he believes
is an electronic analog of the nerve signal released from the human
cochlea, but with one major difference; in the cochlea hundreds of
nerves carry the time-encoded signal to the brain. In the case of
the Neurophone, the full signal processing is complete and may be
carried to the brain by alternate pathways. Through the skin itself.
In the original Neurophone, a 3000 volt amplitude modulated radio
wave carried the signal to a pair of insulated electrodes that were
placed on the head of the subject. In the present Neurophone, the
voltage has been reduced to a 50 volt (maximum) square wave. This
signal is applied to the body by means of ceramic disks. (zirconium
titanate) The ceramic disks allow the energy field to affect the
skin without a current flow. The small electric field causes the
skin to vibrate internally in rhythym with the stimulation. The
intra-dermal vibration can be heard by others if they place their
own ears near the point of electrode skin contact. The vibration
is not powerful enough however, to vibrate the bone below the skin
surface.
For the past year, Dr Flanagan has been developing a theory which
would explain how the Neurophone actually works in the body. Some
mechanism must exist that transmits the information from skin to
the brain.
The Neurophone has been out now for nearly five months, and we are
starting to get reports back from layman and professional users.
The inital results are exciting. Several people have reported that
their ability to remember data is increasing. People who could not
remember telephone numbers are becoming walking phone books!
The first professional research report has been written by Dr Sheldon
Deal, D.C., N.D.; of Tucson, Az. Dr Deal is director of the Swan
Clinic, and is current President of the International College of
Applied Kinesiology.
Dr Deal's preliminary Neurophone research paper was recently presented
at the I.C.A.K. convention in Detroit. With Dr Deal's permission, we
are publishing his entire paper in INNERGY NEWS.
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Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
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ed.l...@ix.netcom.com Ed Light Los Angeles, CA, USA
Ward Tomlinson
>From: ba...@euclid.colorado.edu (b)
>Subject: Neurophone
>Date: 8 Aug 1995 22:58:58 GMT
>Anyone know anything about this?
>NEUROPHONE BREAKTHROUGH
>A Possible Mechanism for Neurophonic Action
>The Neurophone is a new electronic invention that may enable us to
>hear by a completely new information channel to the brain. Ordinary
Electrical stimulation of the brain/ auditory nerve to create a sensation of
sound is not new. It was first done by Galvani, who stuck electrodes from his
batteries into each ear. The keywords to search on today are "cochlear
implant". There are hundreds of scientists working in this area, and there
have been many articles in the popular press (Sci Am for example). Cochlear
implants generally only stimulate the remnants of the auditory nerve, and have
been relatively successful. Though they do not recreate normal sensation,
cochlear implants provide important timing, intensity, and in good implants,
frequency cues that can improve the quality of life of deaf people. There is
preliminary work being done on implants into the central nervous system, but
the surgery is much more risky, and there have been no demonstrable
improvements over "standard" implants, so this is a minor research branch.
Getting back to the original question. The one advantage of external
stimulation (through the skin) is that it is non-invasive, and can also be
done on hearing subjects. The main disadvantage is that it is non-specific.
The electric currents will stimulate many brain regions unselectively,
offering little control. Signal to noise ratio is likely to be a problem.
Without better stimulus control, this offers no advantages over cochlear
implants with the immenent risks of tissue damage from the currents
needed to get through the skin and skull.
toml...@bio1.bio.th-darmstadt.de