Those in the hearing world are able to appreciate music through sound. However, what about those who cannot hear? Frank Russo, a cognitive scientist, and his colleagues at Ryerson University have developed a way for the deaf community to experience music similar to the hearing world. Using emotion as a musical experience, the team has developed a special chair that can channel vibrations into the same part of the brain that experiences emotion, or the limbic system. The chair serves to separate different frequencies and channel them to different parts of the body. In doing so, sound is eliminated as a necessity for experiencing music.
His theory suggests that the brain is able to distinguish motion through changes in pitch in music. This is done through a newly discovered mirror neuron system (mns) in the parietal and frontal portions of the brain which activates the limbic system and is interpreted as emotion. Rather than music coming through the primary auditory cortex, the deaf may channel music through the visual cortex, bypassing the auditory system. From there, the superior temporal sulcus sends the information to mns and the limbic system where it is interpreted as emotion. Using this theory, the team hopes to develop a new mode of experiencing music through vision and touch.
Link to Frank Russo’s lecture:
Elizabeth Brothers
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