Hello all.
Looking to convert audio signals to the electronic impulses applied to human skin via gel pads.
Low power consumption as run on battery.
Regards

 

Audio signals are electronic impulses?

 

Interesting contraption ...
A battery powered audio source with a transformer at its output can raise levels to be felt on skin. If you want it to be felt. There is many flavors, sizes and levels. Or, a plain 120VAC to 6V transformer in reverse.

 

You could literally replace a headphone with a gel pad. You won't feel anything but it will have a physiological effect. If you want to feel it, like a TENS unit, you'll need a higher voltage, for instance using the transformer approach.

 

Hello all.
Looking to convert audio signals to the electronic impulses applied to human skin via gel pads.
Low power consumption as run on battery.
Regards

Those "electronic impulses" have a voltage and current value which is conveniently not mentioned in whatever the source of that story presented.
The fact is that there is a whole lot more to it than the writer described. And the writer was in no way capable of understanding it. And certainly the writer had no intention of telling the truth.

 

What is the purpose of this - what do you intend to accomplish?

 

There are five senses. One of them is touch. Or the sensation to feel. An electrical impulse of minuscule level will go unnoticed. But if increased in intensity it can become felt to unpleasant to painful. If you're thinking about sleep learning - the human brain is not wired that way. It is wired to feel pain and react. Not learn from.

If you want to bring hearing to the deaf - that experiment has been tried numerous times. Unless you can reach the auditory nerves you'll accomplish nothing. And far greater minds have worked on this problem for years.

I'm with the others - what is it you hope to accomplish?

 

I first read about this back in late 1964, written up in some legitimate magazine, about how some "Teen Inventor" had created a system to allow people to hear thru an electrical connection. It claimed that the USAF was quite interested.

That was 70 years ago!! If it had been a valid discovery I think we would know a lot more about it by now. Such a discovery would be a huge benefit to a large number of people.
So if there was any shred of truth to the claim, we would be aware of it.
So there is a bit more background to what Tony has already provided.

Some lies never die because things would be so good if they were true..

 

I have no idea how sound gets encoded on its way to the brain but that's probably the crux of the problem. Sound is amplitude-modulated in the air and in audio circuitry. I suspect it is NOT once it enters the nervous system. Nerves can fire more or less often but I think they fire at one intensity - they're digital I guess. A strong signal gets transmitted by more parallel wires, not a higher voltage on one wire.

Progress has been made in artificial eyes. Even a few pixels is a big deal compared to zero pixels. Sound is actually more complicated.

For all we know, the TS might want to make a frog leg dance to the music.

 

I first read about this back in late 1964, written up in some legitimate magazine, about how some "Teen Inventor" had created a system to allow people to hear thru an electrical connection. It claimed that the USAF was quite interested.

That was 70 years ago!! If it had been a valid discovery I think we would know a lot more about it by now. Such a discovery would be a huge benefit to a large number of people.
So if there was any shred of truth to the claim, we would be aware of it.
So there is a bit more background to what Tony has already provided.

Some lies never die because things would be so good if they were true..

Please don't take my comment as any kind of fact. The TS has not said this is their line of pursuit. It's merely my suspicion that the TS is thinking along this line. We need to hear from the TS on what they're attempting to solve.

 

Please don't take my comment as any kind of fact. The TS has not said this is their line of pursuit. It's merely my suspicion that the TS is thinking along this line. We need to hear from the TS on what they're attempting to solve.

I was not addressing your comment at all, Tony. At least that was not my intention. But that would be the only GOOD application of such a scheme. There are several rather BAD possible applications.

In an ancient (November, 1933) "Everyday Science and Mechanics" magazine there was an article about a "party game" device that used two hand held copper electrodes to see who could stand the highest voltage, which was taken via capacitors, from the plates of a push-pull audio output stage. Rather scary by today's standards. I inherited that copy long ago, rather interesting articles, really. So the basic concept is not new.

 

There are five senses.

Six. Temperature.

 

Six. Temperature.

Balance
3D spacial position
Humor

 

Common. Oh wait, that went out of style a long time ago.

 

It appears that we have lost the TS. It could be that the TS has some kinky ideas in mind. That sort of kinky stuff has the potential of being dangerous. The moderators may moderate.

 

Hadn't thought of that. But why audio signal? A Tenns device (if that's how its spelled) will deliver a period of pulses of varying patterns, and the user can adjust the intensity. I would imagine.

 

Normal audio has frequencies way above what human touch sensitivity can differentiate. If what you want is to be able to "feel the audio", another approach is to start with a commercial TENS unit (bypassing all of those messy safety and compliance issues) and amplitude modulate the TENS output signal voltage with a waveform derived from the audio envelope; basically an AM detector. This could be passed through filters to select different frequency bands, much like a 1960's color organ. In this way, a deaf person could literally feel the beat.

ak

 

I can tell you that the different wave-forms do feel different, based on some zaps that I have received. and not a single one of them was painless.

 

Perhaps someone other than me remembers "The Bone Phone". It was headphones you wore around your neck, not over your ears. You heard the music via conduction of the vibrations through your bones. Hence, "The Bone Phone". It wasn't popular.

Dolphins and other sea animals hear through their jaw bones. I've had the unpleasant experience in the dentists chair, the drilling on my lower teeth, the sound was defining in my ears because of sound conduction through the jaw bones.

BUT the big deal with the bone phone was that it produced vibrations, not electric stimulation of the skin nerves, that was conducted into the auditory system. If that's what the TS is after - too late. Already tried. Already failed.

 

I can tell you that the different wave-forms do feel different, based on some zaps that I have received. and not a single one of them was painless.

My past experiences with amplified audio was that the voltage at the speakers could be as high as 95 volts. I don't remember specifics about it but my brother warned me that if the speakers I was listening to music through while laying in the tub COULD BE LETHAL if they fell in.

Today's amplifiers - I'm totally unfamiliar with. The best I can imagine is that audio is driven by H-Bridge setup. But I don't know that. So if someone feels the need to point out my error - that's perfectly fine with me. Do so. I can admit and accept when I'm wrong. I DO get a lot of practice at it.