implanted earphones
Saumanahaii 's thread here:
I'm taking a multi-stage approach to the implant and I'm going about it differently. We will see if it works.
First, the idea is based on this:
The project is set up like this:
1. implant magnets
2. test implants with coil to make sure audio is picked up
3. implant coil/other parts w/transdermal jack & power charger
I got the implant yesterday. I'm waiting for it to heal before I start testing. I struggled with the implant location. I noticed that running my finger over the tragus produced an audio effect kind of like what audio sounds like through a stethoscope. I'm not sure if everyone has this experience or if it is just me? I implanted the magnets here. If the audio is not sufficient I will implant a tiny tube next to the magnet to get the pressure changes into the ear canal. I'll keep you posted.
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I'm still waiting for nerve regrowth and for the skin to heal fully before messing with it too much.
on the topic of the coil, lol, yes the thing is a monstrosity, but wearing it under the shirt is cooler than any option I can think of at the moment for wearing it on the ears. anyone with large gauges in their ears could probably add could to their existing jewelry, no problem. I believe that idea was discussed in another thread.
@AmmonRa: the microphone idea gives me many many crazy ideas, but the answer to your question is "I don't know". but I can't live life without knowing now, can I? I'll add that to the list of things to test.
I have been encountering one strange problem maybe somebody can help me out with? when I put this coil in to my PC I hear a local radio station. This only happens on my home PC. I can't hear the radio when I plug in regular ear buds and speakers don't have any audible signs of the station either. I can't figure out how to kill that signal. any ideas?
@DirectorX, have you tried using different surfaces in your ear to see if it affects the sound at all? I've noticed that earbuds tent to use rigid plastic domes on the surface of the transducer to increase treble response. I'm not an audio engineer, but I would love to find out how the soft surface of your skin affects the frequency response.
In regards to the radio station, there might be a diode junction somewhere in your PC that's acting as a detector to the radio station. I had that happen to me once when I was working with TTL circuits trying to construct a variable frequency square wave oscillator. I wound up trying to amplify the radio station output as much as possible.
With the coil placed around your neck, I'm assuming you're not trying to reproduce stereo sound. Will you be experimenting with different coil sizes and orientations?
- Did you buy a prebuilt Set or did you assemble the parts yourself?
- How do you get your estimation for "I'm guessing those might only last me a few days." ? In the instructables he said, that it lasts for about half an hour
- Did you try it with just the magnet in your ear "as intended"? I am quite curious as to how the sound compares
- Awesome project! I think I will start building something similar tomorrow :)
https://www.bitmit.net/en/item/39716-wireless-earpiece-spy-pass-any-test
http://www.remingtonindustries.com/Products/Details/28%20SNSP
Once I build that, I figure I'll find a good volume range and then figure out my power needs and arrange power accordingly. Lithium polymer something or other.
Also, to try to answer some questions:
Yes, I'll experiment with smaller coils. First I really want to get this necklace prototype running again so I can have something to use in my daily life. As far as orientation goes, the coil I was working with seemed fairly liberal in the number of positions it would relay sound in. It kind of forms over the shoulders and I thought this impact it negatively, but it didn't have too big of an affect. Holding the coils perpendicular to the implants also works great, which might be an option if Mickey Mouse hats come back in fashion. When I do move to smaller speaker closer to the ears I want two coils on each side. Hopefully I'll get a L/R thing going and be able to run some creepy binaural beats or something. Magnet placement is weirder than I predicted. First, as stated before, the closer to the eardrum the better. The crus of helix or the concha might be a good location. I did use the magnets that came with the kit in addition to the ones implanted. It was nearly impossible to keep the magnets from sticking to the implants. Using a qtip I was able to push the magnet down quite a bit, but then I got stuck with hearing everything while having a qtip in my ear. I bought some ear plugs to aid me next time. fwiw, even when the magnets are stuck to the implant it increases the volume a lot. Each magnet is like a speaker, so having a magnet on the antitragus or concha will only increase the number of angles you get audio from. It will sound louder too. There are some dynamic things you could do with that if you could isolate one coil to affect only one magnet. Not sure how to do that, but it would be like having surround sound + up and down sound.
@Ben:
Let me know how your build goes and what you think of the magnets in the ear canal. Keeping them in was difficult for the people I shared it with. The magnets in the ear drum are going to be much louder than the implants in the tragus or elsewhere. I can't say for sure, but my guess is that holding them on your tragus might give you a good idea of the volume difference I'm looking at.
I've been typing all day since my unit broke and my brain is fried. Possibly from running AC current through a coil in various positions around my neck and face for hours. I'm going to sleep, but I'll try to answer more questions/make a video, etc, in the next few days. Thanks in advance for the build advice too!
I did have a question for you, have you tried wearing over-ear headphones? The magnets in the pair I have are strong enough for me to feel in my finger magnet when I'm putting my headset on, and I wonder what that extra magnet-to-magnet vibration induction would do to the sound you hear with headphones on. Louder, at least on that side?
I don't imagine it would offer any worthwhile benefits to get a ear magnet with the intent of wearing headphones anyways (won't know until its tried, of course), but it would be nice to know what to expect if someone gets this implant and needs to use their headset for a skype chat, lets say.
Mr.Sticky
@MrSticky: Thanks. I don't have an over the ear headset but I'll test it if I run into one.
**edit: spelling**
And another idea for you to add to your list is to build one of those monstrous coils as per the instructible and then attach it to the ceiling of your car, right above where your head is when you're driving. Hook it into the car's power circuit and you don't have to worry about batteries).
the neck version won't really work well for two reasons, one is, the magnet itself is far away from the coil, and magnetic fields get weaker with the 3rd potence to the distance (in first aproximation). the other would be the magnetic fields of the magnet and coil aren't lining up. reducing the forces even further.
wrapping the coil around the ear like pictured above is a very good choice. the overall magnetic coupling is still not that great but a lot better already.
about the frequency response. this is manly affected by two things: 1. the forces you apply to your magnet. 2. the mass that has to be put in motion by said force. the mechanical system pretty much makes up a 1st order lowpass. so halfing the mass, while keeping the magnetic fields about the same will roughly half the corner frequency of the system .
increasing the force, by increasing field strength will boost the overall volume, but lower frequencies can be tuned down with an equalizer so you get a better overall output,too.
other thigs to consider is that the tissue your magnet is placed in (or sits between the 2 magnets) also has a good amount of mass, and internal friction which may cause further damping.
the system does work, as you demonstrated. the observed effects can be explained physically. but due to the nature of how this thing works you can't really expect to accurately reproduce waveforms. probably nothing for an audiophile audience as there are too many too-hard-too-calculateable-realistically effects influencing the final amplitude and phase of the frequencies. it's still good for communication i guess.