Re: Dental filling radio reception?

From: Bob Masta (NoSpam_at_daqarta.com)
Date: 01/08/05 

Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2005 13:23:41 GMT

On 6 Jan 2005 08:53:53 -0800, dave.harper@gmail.com wrote:

<snip>

>However, I'd like to play devil's advocate and point out a few
>things... first is that tissue does not make a good faraday cage. You
>are a better conductor than rubber, but MUCH worse than copper. UHF
>and VHF passes through you relatively easily.

Any idea where to get numbers to put on this? I'm especially
interested in AM frequencies, simply because AM broadcasts
can be easily detected, as in a crystal radio. But figures for
the other bands would certainly be of interest.

>Secondly, do you want to assume that, if this legend is true, the
>filling induces sound in the mouth? Electrical impulses transmitted
>around your auditory nerve definately seem like sound to the beholder.
>Maybe that's the mechanism...?

Electrical pulses transmitted directly to your auditory nerve, as in
an auditory prosthesis (cochlear implant) sound like buzzing. In
order to get any semblance of the original sound you need a
carefully orchestrated stimulation of multiple frequency regions.
This is a really difficult task, with a lot of good people working
hard on it. The problem is that the ear is not at all like a
radio or telephone. It's a parallel device, with all frequencies
analyzed while still acoustic, and transmitted as thousands
of discrete frequencies on individual auditory nerve fibers.
Each fiber's firing rate corresponds to the intensity of the
particular frequency of the corresponding sensory cell.
There is no place in the system where you can insert an
electrical audio signal and have it interpreted by the brain
as the original sound. (Unless perhaps your signal was
a buzzer!)

>Lastly, who's to say the filling acts as an antenna, a diode, or a
>battery? A filling in a saline solution, surrounded by nerves, bone,
>and other tissue might act completely differently than it would
>stand-alone.

Yes, my expectation is that if there is any diode junction at all,
it's between metal and an electrolyte.

Best regards,

Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom
 
            D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
           www.daqarta.com

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