Bionic Ear Now In FDA trials

Kierthos writes: "This article mentions that a new bionic ear for people who are truly deaf has been developed. It doesn't amplify sounds, but converts them into electric impulses. And apparently, it's the software which is under review by the FDA, not the implanted chip." Silicon retinas, plastic hearts, synthetic skin, ceramic hips ... the line between possible and impossible keeps getting thinner.

Comments

Cochlear Implant Telepathy

[zane]

I remember seeing a show on these things on the Discovery Channel at some point. There were several parts. The tiny implant that they actually put inside, and microphone which you wear on your ear, and then the processing unit that you wear on your belt. The processor communicated with the implant using a radio transmitter... In this application, of course, it was a very low power radio transmitter. But I don't see any reason you couldn't hook a similar thing into, say, the cell phone network... or your stereo system. Then you'd really have "voices in your head".

Additionally, they've found that people reading to themselves make "subvocalizations" - the muscles in your throat that control your voice fire, just not very strongly. Imagine if you could somehow translate those impulses into the words that you were subvocalizing, and transmit them via radio to these implants... It would almost be like telepathy.

Just imagine the fight to keep *that* traffic encrypted with keys outside the government's hands, and the price for advertizing space in your mind...

I thought it was interesting that the Discovery Channel chose not to explore any of these possibilities in their show, and instead focused on the (in my opinion strange) backlash within the deaf community against the assumption that these implants were good for deaf kids. They held that being deaf wasn't a "defect" that needed to be fixed.

Personally, I'd jump at the chance to extend my senses, either up to normal (glasses?) or beyond!

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Yes but the DMCA means....

[scotpurl]

....that everyone and their dog will be suing bionic ear owners for illegally decoding their product from sound waves into eletronic pulses. They will consider it another illegal, "perfect" digital copy.

*sigh*