speculative tech: how to relay sound to the brain via contact lens?

Hmm. Electromagnetic hearing, maybe?

From Wikipedia:

Humans are able to detect modulated radio-frequency electromagnetic signals in the microwave range, hearing them as sounds. The perceived source of induced sound is located inside of or directly behind the head of the recipient, regardless of the location of the transmitter. The effect is believed to be caused by thermoelastic expansion of the brain exposed to microwaves.

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It could emit some advanced form of pulsed microwave radiation. See this article on microwave auditory effect at Wikipedia.

You've got the optic nerve - the superhighway of brain connections. Just make your contact lens connect with it using some tech and voila - you're golden. As far as sound goes - don't over think this - the brain can do anything. And I do mean anything. Just have a connection in the brain to the auditory centers because it is already there. Really - just make it up.

why not have a transmitter/receiver implanted in the cranial nerve plexus so that all applications (sight, sound, smell, sensory and motor) could work wirelessly...

I like the optic nerve idea. The simplest might be to have the contact lens contain liquid crystals that convert the vibrations to optic signals the person could learn to "read." People can read (Braille) and hear (placing their hand on the throat of the speaker) through touch, so being able to hear via sight is entirely possible. And if you're not going to infodump how it all works then do the specifics really matter?

Ria13 said:

ah yes. by the way, a note on storytelling. I did not plan on explaining via infodump how this works. I just have this thing of wanting to justify things that occur in a story to myself for my own satisfaction. (though that varies from story to story. if the story takes place in La La Land and has no pretense to realism, I don't worry about it.)

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I don't think anyone would ask for justification on this - the trick is to make sure your character believes it - if they do - then your reader will too.

I'm a scientist and I would not blink and eye (no pun intended) at something like this - compared to some of the stuff I've read in science fiction this is tame.

Don't go into detail as to how the tech works - that's crazy. Just say it works and it will. If you add too much detail people like me will find a way for you to be wrong - if you simply say the lens generates a field and makes blah blah blah possible - we accept it and move on with the story.

However - if you want to make it detailed I'd use signal transduction or something like that. Basically - the lens generates a hormone (hormones can do ANYTHING!) - that is carried across the cellular membrane of the retina (cornea take your pick) which then begins a signal transduction cascade and affects the optic nerve, which ends up in the auditory centers.

If you want the effect to be instantaneous and short acting make it a protein hormone - if you want it to be long acting (but takes hours to days to take effect) make it a steroid hormone.

Ria13 said:

oh, for sure.

I had considered having nanotech radio transmitters then decided that seemed a bit too futuristic. this takes place in an alternative version of 2011, not, say, 2095, so I want to keep things a little more close to reality.

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It's totally doable, even in today's science.

Ria13 said:

as I said in my original post, I did want to discuss the contact lens idea, rather than discuss alternatives to it.

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the point was that the contact lens would then be able to transmit data...

Ria13 said:

yeah, okay! I figured if you had an implant you wouldn't need the contact lens. just go with the implant in the first place, y'know?

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i just can't figure out a reasonable way to have the lens communicate with the occipital lobe without some kind of intermediary...the implant...which could be tiny...is the only thing i could do...but, then again, it could be a universal sort of thing that everyone has...just like ipods nowadays...

Dandroid said:

i just can't figure out a reasonable way to have the lens communicate with the occipital lobe without some kind of intermediary...the implant...which could be tiny...is the only thing i could do...but, then again, it could be a universal sort of thing that everyone has...just like ipods nowadays...

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It's called a neurotransmitter - you've got lots of them in your body right now. They can act as hormones, like in my other suggestion, but the cool thing is that they also act as neurotransmitters in the brain and peripheral nervous system - and the "intermediary" is just your everyday synapse along the axon.

Make the neurotransmitter a carrier molecule (just include a binding site) and presto - you've got pretty much anything you want connected to anything else you want.

My biggest concerns...

1...Contact lens are thin, very thin. Adding anything else to them is going to make them thicker and irritating to the eyes. I mean there has to be a way to translate the vibrations into recognized sounds and this is going to require some type of implant.

2...Any type of vibration receiver is also going to rattle the hell out of someones vision. Just my opinion, but this is a very bad place to put any type of hearing equipment. Many reasons...

3...You could do the same thing with a special pair of glasses in which the sonic vibrations are passed right to the skull behind the ear. Person could wear a small ear implant that translates these vibrations into recognized sound waves...

As I said, these are just a few concerns, but if you weave the story well enough so that I go...hmmm, that's possible, then I'll buy it. If not, I will start challenging other facts of the story. Of course if other facts also don't work, then I won't buy this bit as well....

thothguard51 said:

My biggest concerns...

1...Contact lens are thin, very thin. Adding anything else to them is going to make them thicker and irritating to the eyes.

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Well, it's already being experimented with:

An electronic contact lens has been developed that will enable maps and videos to be beamed before the wearer’s eyes.

The bionic lens has microscopic circuits fixed to a flexible plastic. The scientists who created the device say the lenses could eventually provide computer-aided vision similar to that of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s robotic character in the Terminator films.

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http://aftermathnews.wordpress.com/...puter-images-and-data-directly-into-the-eyes/
http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/augmented-reality-in-a-contact-lens/0

The audio, as you describe, would be an issue.

I thought they'd just come out with digital eyeglasses, not sure how they work, but they involve focusing the lens without the need for bifocals. This is a different concept than the one described in the post above mine, by mgencleyn.

Or maybe I dreamed it.

An electronic contact lens has been developed that will enable maps and videos to be beamed before the wearer’s eyes.

Where does the maps and video beam from? How does it receive the images? What will power it? This will still require an implant of some sort, or a portable receiver the user wears in a pocket or on their belt. IMHO...

The bionic lens has microscopic circuits fixed to a flexible plastic. The scientists who created the device say the lenses could eventually provide computer-aided vision similar to that of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s robotic character in the Terminator films.

Again, creating a bionic lens that can project, focus, etc sill needs the lenses to be connected to something else. Also, I assume each lens will have to be pre programmed for the individual users visual needs, so its not like you can go out and pick up another 6 pack at the local pharmacy.

Still, this is all about visuals and not hearing related issues and translating sound waves into recognisable speech, sounds, or even music. Currently, the most advanced hearing device I am aware of is the Linear Ear Implant (sp),and even once the user gets one, (About 30-40 thousand dollars), they have to train themselves to recognise the sounds it transmits and it has to be adjusted yearly by a computer program. This system has also been known to pick up other electronic signals such as radio stations, cell phones, etc. It can drive someone crazy it not properly tuned.

Could the character have some sort of medical procedure that converts part of the optic nerve to become a "hearing" nerve, rather than a "seeing" nerve?