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Perfect Pitch Implants

Skull implants that vibrate on musical pitches
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(+6, -1)
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This is a device that helps you hit the exact right pitch of notes.

It's a small tiny implant of some crystal or something that will vibrate when exposed to sound of a certain frequency. These small implants will be placed under you skin on the round part of your skull somewhere. They could even be screwed in.

When you use your voice, the sound resonates throughout your entire cranium. The right crystal will vibrate when you hit the right frequency. For instance 440 Hz for middle C or whatever.

Each different note would require a different implant. They should be tiny, perhaps the size of a pinhead -- that way it will feel like a little tingle when you hit the note properly.

You wouldn't need 88 different implants -- just maybe 12. Each one will vibrate also on octaves below and above -- just not as strongly. But they do still help you get the note right. When you are hitting a wrong note, or slightly off, no crystals will vibrate. When you hit the note exactly, it will ring. After a while of practicing, you should be able to hit the note exactly.

lawpoop, Jan 16 2006

Human voice spectograph http://voicecenter....PhotoVoicePrint.jpg
See how the human voice is discrete, not messy [lawpoop, Jan 17 2006]

Another spectrograph http://skeptictank....ks/4/matt-voice.jpg
Yet another spectrograph [lawpoop, Jan 17 2006]


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Annotation:







       sounds good.
neilp, Jan 16 2006
  

       This might work in or as a tooth.   

       [2] Only as a tooth? Why not an under-the-skin implant, esp. if it's screwed into the bone?
lawpoop, Jan 16 2006
  

       If the human voice were a perfect sinewave, I'd be tempted to go along with this. As I understand it, the human voice can be pretty messy, waveform-wise. Seems to me that there could be a component of the sung note that resonates an implant, even if that's not the strongest frequency component of the voice.   

       Just a thought. Anyone more expert than me might easily refute that thought. When I say "anyone more expert", I'm including nearly the entire population of the planet.
half, Jan 16 2006
  

       [half] I'm no expert, and you are right that the human voice is all over the place, but it is all harmonics of your fundamental pitch. So as long as you get the fundamental pitch right, any of the harmonics in your voice will cause the properly tuned crystal to vibrate.   

       So if you're singing too sharp, all of the harmonics are going to be too sharp. However, if you are on pitch, all of the harmonics are going to be on pitch.   

       Think of it this way -- if the human voice really were all over the place, nobody would be able to sing notes.   

       I'm not 100% certain anyway, hopefully a self-proclaimed expert will 'chime in'. Ha, ha.
lawpoop, Jan 16 2006
  

       Fooling around with an oscilloscope in freshman physics, my lab partner and I proved that the voiceis messy. She prided herself on her voice: it was good. She could not produce a wave. I could easily whistle a wave, though. So while this invention might not help with singing, it could cut down on tuneless whistling.
bungston, Jan 16 2006
  

       if you do it right, you can remove the left hemisphere and replace it with a step series of chambers that ressonate at the desired pitch.
Armani, Jan 16 2006
  

       Sure, but what happens when you finally learn to sing on key? You are stuck with an annoying buzz whenever you sing OR listen to music! If the implants/teeth/whatever were externally removable, no problem, though.
roleohibachi, Jan 16 2006
  

       There was some dufus on daytime TV who had little screwholes implanted in his skull. When he wanted to impress the Goth chicks, he could screw in metal spikes. That same principle could be used to implant real, full length tuning forks. No magic crystals - off the shelf tuning forks will work fine.   

       I envision a crest, like a Romain centurion.
bungston, Jan 16 2006
  

       Hah. That gave me a mental image of Pinhead from the hellraiser movies in a musical.
"The hells are alive, with the sound of music."
  

       [lawpoop], I guess it's just because I'm not into body modification but I do have a filling or two.   

       [2] I imagine that this things could be very small, perhaps the size of a pin head. If they were that small, then you could have them implanted under your skin with a very small incision, and they would hardly leave a bump.   

       If you do in under your hair, nobody would notice.   

       The only problem I see is that they may travel under the skin. I think they would have to be in contact with the skull in order to work. I don't know if the skin is taught enough to keep them in contact.
lawpoop, Jan 17 2006
  

       Thought this was maybe an idea to create breasts from highly refined tar.
coprocephalous, Jan 17 2006
  

       [bungston] The human voice is messy, but they are all harmonics of the fundamental tone. If you look at a spectrograph you will see this.   

       So as long as you hit the pitch, the crystals will vibrate. If you hit a harmonic, the crystal will vibrate, but not as strongly. And if your voice is out of the frequency response range of the crystal, it won't vibrate, and none of your harmonics will cause it to vibrate either.   

       Think about this: If the human voice really is messy like you are indicating, singers couldn't hit notes regardless of whatever implants they had in their head.   

       The human voice is not continuous -- it is discrete. And all the strong areas are harmonics of the fundamental pitch.
lawpoop, Jan 17 2006
  

       [roleo] These implants would only buzz when you are singing, not when you are listening to music.   

       If the music is strong enough to vibrate your skull, these implants will be your only source of hearing from thereafter.
lawpoop, Jan 17 2006
  

       440 HZ is an A, but I like it anyway--bun.
RunVentura, Oct 18 2006
  


 

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