Could "Brain Zappers" Be Used To Enhance Vision And Hearing?

The Virgina Tech researchers developed their ultrasound technology as a tool for mapping the brain, but it is reasonable to ask whether the technique could also be used to enhancing the perceptual capacity of the brain. Ultrasound is not so much a tool for increasing brain activity as it is for focusing brain activity. So if you had blurry vision because of cataracts or diabetic retinopathy, or if you had trouble hearing high pitches, or you had neuropathy interfering with your sense of touch in your hands and feet, could a brain zapper be in your future?

The basic design of the ultrasound tool is something that would be possible to use outside of the research laboratory. The delivery of ultrasound in the study was "transcranial," which is to say, it could be delivered by an ultrasound generator imbedded in a headband. Headbands for delivery of alternating magnetic field have been around for 15 years, but how close are we to having headbands that deliver ultrasound to the brain to enhance vision, hearing, and touch?

Actually, Dr. Jamie Tyler, lead investigator in this study, established a company called SynSonix in 2009, when he was a professor at Arizona State University. Dr. Tyler observed that many of the stimulatory devices available for treating brain diseases were only operable when they were installed by surgery. 

The use of ultrasound is not completely without complications. When the ultrasound generator is operating in the gigaherz range, that is, when it is generation billions of vibrations per second, the energy not only can heat up brain tissue it can liquify skull bone. This is not desirable. However, as long as the energy is only about 1 megaherz, or one million vibrations per second, about the same intensity as an ultrasound massager or an ultrasound device used to enhance cosmetic treatments, there is no risk of damage to the skull or to brain tissue, although it is more difficult to "aim" the beam of sound to the precise area of the brain that benefits from treatment.

See Also: A Surgical Way To Better Vision

And how does ultrasound really work? Tyler and other researchers believe the effect is due to pressure, not sound. Scientists attribute the effects of ultrasound to a "microcavitational" effect that literally moves neurons just enough that electrical impulses do not move between them, unplugging them from some parts of the brain and making them interact even more with neighoring neurons, allowing the brain to record more sensory information.