Sony researcher develops method for direct brain stimulation

April 19,2005 by Mike Adams

Thomas Dawson, a research scientist working for Sony, has been granted a patent for a technique that uses ultrasonic pulses aimed at tiny individual areas of the brain to create sensory experiences, including tastes, smells, sights and sounds.
The new technique could be used  to create more realistic and immersive games, in which you can smell, taste, and touch, or to help people who are blind or deaf. The U.S. patent, granted to Sony researcher Thomas Dawson, describes a technique for aiming ultrasonic pulses at specific areas of the brain to induce "sensory experiences" such as smells, sounds and images. "The pulsed ultrasonic signal alters the neural timing in the cortex," the patent states. "No invasive surgery is needed to assist a person, such as a blind person, to view live and/or recorded images or hear sounds."