Sound cards and unsound thoughts

From: peterson_at_d...
Date: 2001-05-14 01:44:30


Hi All--
Writing as another of the technically challenged members of the
group, I gather that using a sound card would enable production of
not just cheap EEG machines, but VERY cheap EEG biofeedback machines
(VCEBMs), but these VCEBMs would be limited to working with EEG
frequencies above 5 Hz. There was also something about multiplexing
that, if I understood it correctly could actually amount to
collecting a lot of different kinds of data at once. All of this
brings several thoughts to mind.

I wouldn't want to sacrifice the full range of things the present
design seems capable of, so IMHO we should certainly continue the
pursuit of that, but who says we have to be limited to one design?
Why not also put out a VCEBM as another project? Probably 95% of
what people do with EEG biofeedback at present is at freqs above 5Hz,
although it would be nice if one could just stretch it down to 4Hz
and thereby cover the traditonal Theta band.

VCEBMs could be used for ADHD training, peak performance, addictions
and PTSD training, etc., and a machine costing $60 or $80 will reach
a lot of people who would be missed by a $200 or $300 machine.

And now another thought: It seems to me that we are not only on the
verge of providing cheap EEG biofeedback devices, but also have the
essential features in hand to produce cheap EMG, EKG (as in heart
rate variability), electrodermal, and maybe some other types of
biofeedback as well. Putting this entire range of equipment out into
public access could revolutionize the capacity of humans to self-
regulate.

--Jim



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