NeuroAcoustic Awakening: Transversing Touch to Sense Your Inner Being

[Randy Eady]

​Can we heighten our capacity to spontaneously synchronize?  How does the notion of being in syncopated rhythmic unison​ actually​ influence our consciousness?

The phenomenon of spontaneous synchronization found in circadian rhythms, in the heart (heart-math) & intestinal muscles, insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas, ambling elephants, sleep -synchronizing manatees, drummers drumming, menstrual cycles, and fireflies, among many other instances is an impressive & evocative way of sensing how we can awaken our neuroacoustic proprioceptive awareness. 

Hearing the "tick-tocks" come into sync ---- from random, to syncopated rhythmic unison is a palpable illustration of neuroacoustic awakening.

In Touch: The Science of Hand, Heart and Mind, neuroscientist David Linden (2015)* elegantly dives into the complexity of the circuitry connecting the body, the brain and circulatory peripherals stimulating our integrative processes of experience. Detailing different types of fibers which conduct information from the sensors in our skin to the brain, body and heart, he outlines how the speed of information flow is critical to the way we can discern various forms of touch.

“…Fast A-fibres are necessary to transmit rapidly changing, highly nuanced signals about object shape, texture, temperature, vibration…C-fibres, in contrast, are not built to inform the parts of the brain involved in discriminative, factual aspects of touch sensation, but rather function to integrate information slowly and feature a "woven web of discernment" touching on both heart and gut nerve fibers stemming from the "vast vagal weave" helping to set the emotional tone of any particular touch (or even near touch -- in the instance of haptic "goose-bumps").

Most recently it's been discovered and (is now being integrated in VR) how the response called ASMR relies on our hair follicle's blood-filled pocket (blood sinus) to produce a vibratory movement of the hair (think of it raising the hair on the back of the neck -- in alert or surprise) which produces micro-changes in the fluid registered by receptors around the hair follicle. 

https://youtu.be/KONyGObNE8I

This information is then transmitted via hundreds of nerve fibers to the brain. An increase in this surface blood pressure increases the sensitivity of the hairs particularly in the case of some C-fibers conveying a special kind of tactile information:  those attuned for interpersonal touch...as caress sensors…(p.78)”.  *Linden, D. (2015). Touch - The Science of Hand, Heart and Mind. Penguin Publishing Group, New York.

​Entirely soft artificial skin -- where both sensors and actuators are integrated -- provides closed-loop control, which offers accurately, reliable modulation of vibratory stimulation felt by the user. This is ideal for wearable applications, such as for testing a person's proprioception/haptic response in various bioregulatory medicinal applications.


A fully wearable prototype for applications in rehabilitation & virtual and augmented reality is set to be studied -- where body stimulation while be measured in conjunction with dynamic brain activity under fMRI.

​Put simply, the “skin” uses pressure triggered by inflated membranes to create a sense of touch far more realistic than that of current haptic feedback solutions, which rely primarily on mechanical vibration technology to replicate a sense of impact.

​Referred to as “Closed-Loop Haptic Feedback Control Using a Self-Sensing Soft Pneumatic Actuator Skin,” the device is composed of a stretchable material only 500 nanometers thick, allowing it to form readily to the body.  Lined with a series of pneumatic actuators, the ultra-compliant thin-metal film's "strain sensors" creates an ultra-realistic tactile sense via vibratory feedback.

[Randy Eady]

A brain in flow far exceeds expectations:  A neurocognitive model of flow states and the role of cerebellar in...

[Randy Eady]

https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/23/5/1005/797920

"there is much we do not know about how the entire female body is represented in the brain or how it might change with different reproductive life stages, hormones, and experiences. Understanding what is and is not currently known about the female SS is a first step toward fully understanding neurological and physiological sex differences, as well as producing better-informed treatments for pain conditions related to mastectomy, hysterectomy, vulvodynia, and fibromyalgia. "

[Randy Eady]

Emphathetic resonance:  MirrorNeuronKnight

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/medical-student-says-bei...

[Randy Eady]

Mechanisms of neuro-robotic prosthesis operation in leg amputees | ...

Direct connection between the nervous system and artificial robotic devices promotes a new type of #Robot-#Human co-existence, reshaping the movement with artificial devices closer to that of natural limbs. 

#FuturisticScenarios in which the neuro-robotic leg was exploited by a subject to directly regulate and apply pressure with a gas pedal is used to accelerate a car.

New, more effective, #sensorimotor strategies are promoted by the use of specific neurostimulation features. 

[Randy Eady]

W/touch 10x stronger than verbal or emotional contact, its vital to appreciate the importance of haptics. . .

​Touch is actually the first "rhythmic" sense experienced in human development -- when the fetus is at three weeks gestation. Only taste comes before touch -- though taste does have a significant "feel" to help with the chemistry of taste. Other key senses like the auditory system, vision, sense of movement/gravity and smell develop much later.

Touch sensation is essential for brain development, which is also emphasized in the care process of premature babies, e.g. by providing kangaroo mother care.

Therefore, it's not surprising touch plays a very important role in all stages of human life. For an adult person living an active life, sight and hearing senses dominate the info-flow in daily life, which can lead to the impression that touch is merely a “secondary” type of sense.

In fact,touch is still in many ways essential for our well-being, and touch-sensation becomes more important if other senses have not been fully formed or become impaired in some manner.

[Randy Eady]

Making a prosthesis feel more like a lost body part. Ripple Neuromed is applying prior research from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency  (DARPA HAPTIX) Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces program. Using this integrated system, a person w/a lower-limb amputation can, for instance, sense their prosthetic heel and foot ground contact when walking. The system offers better proprioceptive awareness, reducing the risk of falls and boosting confidence in movement.

“Many people report that phantom limb pain is more debilitating than the loss of the limb itself,” said Daniel McDonnall, Ph.D., the chief scientific officer of Ripple and president of a related company, Sync Bionics. The company’s device is designed to electrically stimulate the nerves that remain in the residual limb to decrease phantom limb pain for people who have had an amputation. When paired with a prosthesis, or artificial limb, Ripple’s sophisticated device will enable users to sense the prosthesis as though it is a part of their body.