Post by Vortex | Head Admin on Jul 17, 2015 18:08:47 GMT -5
This post spurred from the "Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation" thread here and also from the "Link of the Day" found here.
Hey, today I am going to be going in depth about Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation. What is it? Is it feasibility and if so what does it cost? Could it be used in a full virtual reality brain computer interface?
Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation
To begin with, lets figure out what Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation means.
The word "Galvanic" means "relating to or producing a direct current of electricity" or "causing people to feel or react strongly." In this case both definitions could be used.
Vestibular's definition is "of, relating to, or affecting the perception of body position and movement."2 It mainly refers to the vestibular nerve, which is one of the two branches of the vestibulocochlear nerve. The vestibulocochlear nerve, aka. the auditory vestibular nerve, transmits sound and balance information from the inner ear to the brain. The other branch of the vestibulocochlear nerve is the cochlear nerve. The cochlear nerve handles auditory sensory information while the vestibular nerve transmits gravity and accelerations of the head.
Here is an illustration which displays this nicely:
3
Hopefully you know what stimulation means, but in case you don't. Stimulation is "the stimulating action of various agents on muscles, nerves, or a sensory end organ by which activity is evoked."4
Put all of these words and definitions together and you get Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation or GVS for short.
What does GVS do?
For this section I will using some quoted text from this website.
GVS uses small electrical currents (5 mA peak) to stimulate the vestibular nerve via large surface electrodes placed behind each ear.5
The GVS system was developed by John Holden and Dr. Hamish MacDougall at the University of Sydney's School of Psychology.5
"GVS generates illusory sensations of motion and postural and ocular reflexes. We use binaural bipolar GVS and a pseudorandom (sum of sines) current waveform that gives one the feeling that the world is rocking randomly from side to side like a boat in rough waters.
Results from the GVS experiments are included in the Publications page."5
Here are some of the results they received:
research.mssm.edu/moores01/movies/S7856NoGVSFMT.m4v
(Without GVS)6
research.mssm.edu/moores01/movies/S7856PRGVSFMT.m4v
(With GVS)6
Here are the results when a subject attempts to walk in a straight line with and without GVS:
research.mssm.edu/moores01/movies/DCGVS.m4v6
Another example of GVS is this information video, which I used for the link of the day post:
As you can see GVS is very successful in manipulating a person's balance.
Feasibility & Cost
A GVS system is easy and cheap to setup. It mainly only requires two parts: Electrodes which would be placed behind each ear, and a power source with 1-5 mA. Many people such as Sean McBeth and PlastBox have created there own GVS systems using materials found at home such as 4 AA batteries, an arduino and home made electrodes.
7
Due to the low cost and easy setup I think GVS is very feasible for virtual reality use.
Conclusion
Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation is the strongest contender to be used in a full virtual reality brain computer interface due to its low cost, easy setup and powerful results. Also, since the technology is extremely available it can be applied to many projects such as currently existing virtual reality headsets.
Sources
1.) "Galvanic." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/galvanic>
2.) "Vestibular." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vestibular>
3.) Image Source: classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/914/flashcards/1119914/jpg/picture191341345280913.jpg | Page Link: www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/unit-3/deck/5563686
4.) "Stimulation." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/stimulation>
5.) MacDougall, Hamish. "Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation." Syndey Human Factors Research. The University of Sydney, n.d. Web. <http://www.psych.usyd.edu.au/HumanFactors/?page_id=1623>
6.) Moore, Steven. "Human Aerospace Laboratory." HAL. Icahn School of Medicine, n.d. Web. <http://research.mssm.edu/moores01/project%20GVS.html>
7.) McBeth, Sean. "I Just Hacked My Brain." LinkedIn Pulse. LinkedIn, 17 July 2015. Web. <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-just-hacked-my-brain-sean-mcbeth>
Personal Comments
Thank you for reading my report on GVS. Please feel free to correct any mistakes I've made and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Hey, today I am going to be going in depth about Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation. What is it? Is it feasibility and if so what does it cost? Could it be used in a full virtual reality brain computer interface?
Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation
To begin with, lets figure out what Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation means.
The word "Galvanic" means "relating to or producing a direct current of electricity" or "causing people to feel or react strongly." In this case both definitions could be used.
Vestibular's definition is "of, relating to, or affecting the perception of body position and movement."2 It mainly refers to the vestibular nerve, which is one of the two branches of the vestibulocochlear nerve. The vestibulocochlear nerve, aka. the auditory vestibular nerve, transmits sound and balance information from the inner ear to the brain. The other branch of the vestibulocochlear nerve is the cochlear nerve. The cochlear nerve handles auditory sensory information while the vestibular nerve transmits gravity and accelerations of the head.
Here is an illustration which displays this nicely:
3
Hopefully you know what stimulation means, but in case you don't. Stimulation is "the stimulating action of various agents on muscles, nerves, or a sensory end organ by which activity is evoked."4
Put all of these words and definitions together and you get Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation or GVS for short.
What does GVS do?
For this section I will using some quoted text from this website.
GVS uses small electrical currents (5 mA peak) to stimulate the vestibular nerve via large surface electrodes placed behind each ear.5
The GVS system was developed by John Holden and Dr. Hamish MacDougall at the University of Sydney's School of Psychology.5
"GVS generates illusory sensations of motion and postural and ocular reflexes. We use binaural bipolar GVS and a pseudorandom (sum of sines) current waveform that gives one the feeling that the world is rocking randomly from side to side like a boat in rough waters.
Results from the GVS experiments are included in the Publications page."5
Here are some of the results they received:
research.mssm.edu/moores01/movies/S7856NoGVSFMT.m4v
(Without GVS)6
research.mssm.edu/moores01/movies/S7856PRGVSFMT.m4v
(With GVS)6
Here are the results when a subject attempts to walk in a straight line with and without GVS:
research.mssm.edu/moores01/movies/DCGVS.m4v6
Another example of GVS is this information video, which I used for the link of the day post:
As you can see GVS is very successful in manipulating a person's balance.
Feasibility & Cost
A GVS system is easy and cheap to setup. It mainly only requires two parts: Electrodes which would be placed behind each ear, and a power source with 1-5 mA. Many people such as Sean McBeth and PlastBox have created there own GVS systems using materials found at home such as 4 AA batteries, an arduino and home made electrodes.
7
Due to the low cost and easy setup I think GVS is very feasible for virtual reality use.
Conclusion
Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation is the strongest contender to be used in a full virtual reality brain computer interface due to its low cost, easy setup and powerful results. Also, since the technology is extremely available it can be applied to many projects such as currently existing virtual reality headsets.
Sources
1.) "Galvanic." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/galvanic>
2.) "Vestibular." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vestibular>
3.) Image Source: classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/914/flashcards/1119914/jpg/picture191341345280913.jpg | Page Link: www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/unit-3/deck/5563686
4.) "Stimulation." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/stimulation>
5.) MacDougall, Hamish. "Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation." Syndey Human Factors Research. The University of Sydney, n.d. Web. <http://www.psych.usyd.edu.au/HumanFactors/?page_id=1623>
6.) Moore, Steven. "Human Aerospace Laboratory." HAL. Icahn School of Medicine, n.d. Web. <http://research.mssm.edu/moores01/project%20GVS.html>
7.) McBeth, Sean. "I Just Hacked My Brain." LinkedIn Pulse. LinkedIn, 17 July 2015. Web. <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-just-hacked-my-brain-sean-mcbeth>
Personal Comments
Thank you for reading my report on GVS. Please feel free to correct any mistakes I've made and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.