dean@mind.UUCP (Dean Radin) (04/09/88)
Many of you have probably heard tales of people hearing voices and music "in their head," which was later traced to orthodontic appliances or fillings in their teeth. I've looked for references pertaining to "dental telepathy," both popular and scientific, and have come up empty. Does anyone know of articles on this phenomenon, particularly on the physics of how electrolytes and metals in someone's mouth might lead to the hearing of rf broadcasts, or even whether this is a genuine phenomenon? Dean Radin Department of Psychology Princeton University dean@mind.princeton.edu
ftg@gatech.edu (Gary Peterson) (04/09/88)
In article <2267@mind.UUCP>, dean@mind.UUCP (Dean Radin) writes: > Many of you have probably heard tales of people hearing > voices and music "in their head," which was later traced to > orthodontic appliances or fillings in their teeth. > > ... the physics of how electrolytes and metals in someone's > mouth might lead to the hearing of rf broadcasts, or even > whether this is a genuine phenomenon? > Well, .... it happend to me once. I accidently bit down on something hard like a seed and felt a filling get "jammed" in its tooth. I immediately heard music, quite loud coming to my immediate right (the same side as the filling). As I turned my head, the music turned, quite unnerving. The music quickly faded in proportion to the pressure I was feeling in the filling. (And has not returned.) Since then I tried to figure out ANY explanation for this phenomanon. Since I played with crystal radios as a kid I understand the rf to sound freq. conversion, but the electrical sound freq. to something understood and transmitted by the ears nerves is VERY puzzling. (The nerves to the brain are a bundle, with different frequencies assigned to different nerves in the bundle.) But I have a hypothesis: The inner ear is basically two long coiled chambers connected at one end. The membrane separating them is an ACTIVE feedback mechanism. It amplifies the sound waves in the chambers. Some people develop a flaw in this feedback called "tinitis" or "ringing in the ear". Something goes wrong with the nerve controlling the feedback and the membrane oscillates on its own. One expert on the subject says that the ringing can be heard outside the ear using a stethescope since the membrane vibrates the middle ear bones, which vibrate the eardrum. My conjecture is that the electrical signal produced by dental work travels down a nerve to the point where it joins in the bundle of nerves from the ear, is too strong (really large electrical currents by nerve standards can occur in the both with the combination of metals plus saliva), and runs backwards to the inner ear, setting off the membrane, which oscillates in synch with the signal. The hair receptors in the inner ear then do their regular job of converting into the signals sent to the brain. In any case, this phenomamon should be of interest to people working on correcting deafness. For those people with damaged middle ears, this might possibly lead to a partial solution. ftg@gatech (And no, I've never seen any flying saucers or talked with Elvis's ghost.)
chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) (04/11/88)
In article <2267@mind.UUCP> dean@mind.UUCP (Dean Radin) writes: >I've looked for references pertaining to "dental telepathy," >both popular and scientific, and have come up empty. Does >anyone know of articles on this phenomenon, particularly on >the physics of how electrolytes and metals in someone's >mouth might lead to the hearing of rf broadcasts, or even >whether this is a genuine phenomenon? I know of no decent references, but it is certainly plausible. As anyone who has built a `crystal radio' knows, all you need to receive AM broadcasts is an antenna, a diode, and a speaker. The antenna can be practically nonexistent if you live next to the station. Metals in mild acids form oxide layers which can act as diodes; the metal itself could serve both as antenna and as speaker. Saliva (or lemon juice :-) ) provides the acid. All in all, it seems unlikely but not impossible. Had I any fillings, I suppose I could experiment, but alas, my teeth are still whole. (How tragic :-) .) (Well, there are a few *missing* as a result of a childhood accident. Dentists are always amazed by my one deciduous [`baby'] tooth that fills in for a missing adult tooth.) -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163) Domain: chris@mimsy.umd.edu Path: uunet!mimsy!chris
hal@pur-phy (Hal Chambers) (04/12/88)
In article <11014@mimsy.UUCP> chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes: >In article <2267@mind.UUCP> dean@mind.UUCP (Dean Radin) writes: >>... Does >>anyone know of articles on this phenomenon, particularly on >>the physics of how electrolytes and metals in someone's >>mouth might lead to the hearing of rf broadcasts, or even >>whether this is a genuine phenomenon? >I know of no decent references, but it is certainly plausible. As >anyone who has built a `crystal radio' knows, all you need to receive >AM broadcasts is an antenna, a diode, and a speaker. The antenna can >be practically nonexistent if you live next to the station. Metals in >mild acids form oxide layers which can act as diodes; the metal itself >could serve both as antenna and as speaker. Saliva (or lemon juice :-) ) >provides the acid. >All in all, it seems unlikely but not impossible.... I have a cousin that experienced this. She had a loose filling and when she laid on her bed would her music. She was starting to think she was going crazy when she caught the station id. It wasn't until after visiting the dentist that she realized the cause. Hal Chambers