Broadband Listening

Broadband technologies have revolutionized the way the world sends and views information. With a click of a button, megabytes of visual and audio stimuli at our fingertips thanks to new developments in DSL, cable, and radio transmissions that implement broadband. Broadband refers to the signaling method that uses a wide array of frequencies. Much the same way as broadband is used, our ears pick up a relatively large range of frequencies and transmit them via the auditory nerve to a multitude of processing centers; and just like technology when it does not work, disruption of the auditory pathways can cause serious problems. Aphasias like Wernike’s aphasia and Broca’s aphasia as well as lesions in the cochlear nucleus show just how many processing areas there are in the brain that give rise to our reality of speech. Especially when you get into the

Language and personality

I’m reading Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks, and came upon this quote:

We are a linguistic species — we turn to language to express whatever we are thinking, and it is usually there for us instantly. But for those with aphasia, the inability to communicate verbally may be almost unbearably frustrating and isolating (…).

I’ve met a few people with aphasia, and for those with mainly expressive aphasia this is normally the case; they are frustrated and saddened by their loss of language. But I still wonder about global aphasia; is it possible for a person with global aphasia, who cannot express or understand language, to still be the same person as he or she was before the onset of aphasia? So much of the personality seems to be interlinked with language, and it’s hard to imagine that the personality is somehow intact when the language is severely damaged.

As I was writing this, I realized that I’m not really sure how I would define personality, so I looked it up in Merriam-Webster.

Personality:

1 a: the quality or state of being a person

b: personal existence

2 a: the condition or fact of relating to a particular person; specifically : the condition of referring directly to or being aimed disparagingly or hostilely at an individual

b: an offensively personal remark personalities>

3 a: the complex of characteristics that distinguishes an individual or a nation or group; especially : the totality of an individual’s behavioral and emotional characteristics

b: a set of distinctive traits and characteristics personality of the city>

4 a: distinction or excellence of personal and social traits; also : a person having such quality

b: a person of importance, prominence, renown, or notoriety personality>

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Audiences today are clamoring for information about how music heals. Dr. Alice Cash is the person who can deliver.

Physicians and medical studies have shown the many varied uses of music and sound for healing purposes as well as wellness. From Alzheimer patients to lullabies for mother - baby bonding, music does what nothing else can. Healing does not mean curing; healing music refers the improvement of symptoms and the improvement of chronic or temporary conditions. Some of the things music can do FOR YOU:

Stabilize heart-rate Improve the immune system Lower blood pressure Stabilize blood pressure Decrease prescription medications

Energize the body Calm and soothe the body & mind Bring back happy & comforting memories Distract from pain