Neuro-electronic technology in medicine and beyond

This dissertation looks at the technology and social issues involved with interfacing electronics directly to the human nervous system, in particular the methods for both reading and stimulating nerves. The development and use of cochlea implants is discussed, and is compared with recent developments in artificial vision. The final sections consider a future for non-medicinal applications of neuro-electronic technology. Social attitudes towards use for both medicinal and non-medicinal purposes are discussed, and the viability of use in the latter case assessed

Subtyping somatic tinnitus: a cross-sectional UK cohort study of demographic, clinical and audiological characteristics

Somatic tinnitus is the ability to modulate the psychoacoustic features of tinnitus by somatic manoeuvres. The condition is still not fully understood and further identification of this subtype is essential, particularly for the purpose of establishing protocols for both its diagnosis and treatment. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of somatic tinnitus within a large UK cohort using a largely unselected sample. We believe this to be relatively unique in comparison to current literature on the topic. This was investigated by using a total of 608 participant assessments from a set of recognised tinnitus and audiology measures. Results from a set of chi-square tests of association found that amongst the individuals with somatic tinnitus, a higher proportion had pulsatile tinnitus (different from heartbeat), were under the age of 40, reported variation in the loudness of their tinnitus and reported temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder. The same pattern of results was confirmed using a multivariate analysis of the data based on logistic regression. These findings have strong implications towards the profiling of somatic tinnitus as a distinct subtype of general tinnitus

Making Sensors, Making Sense, Making Stimuli: The State of the Art in Wearables Research from ISWC 2019

The International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC) has been the leading research venue for wearable technology research since 1997. This year, the 23rd ISWC was held in London, UK from Sept 9-13th. Following on the last 8 years of successful collaboration, ISWC was co-located with the 2019 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp)

Synchrony as a measure of conversation difficulty: Movement coherence increases with background noise level and complexity in dyads and triads

When people interact, they fall into synchrony. This synchrony has been demonstrated in a range of contexts, from walking or playing music together to holding a conversation, and has been linked to prosocial outcomes such as development of rapport and efficiency of cooperation. While the basis of synchrony remains unclear, several studies have found synchrony to increase when an interaction is made challenging, potentially providing a means of facilitating interaction. Here we focus on head movement during free conversation. As verbal information is obscured when conversing over background noise, we investigate whether synchrony is greater in high vs low levels of noise, as well as addressing the effect of background noise complexity. Participants held a series of conversations with unfamiliar interlocutors while seated in a lab, and the background noise level changed every 15-30s between 54, 60, 66, 72, and 78 dB. We report measures of head movement synchrony recorded via high-resolution motion tracking at the extreme noise levels (i.e., 54 vs 78 dB) in dyads (n=15) and triads (n=11). In both the dyads and the triads, we report increased movement coherence in high compared to low level speech-shaped noise. Furthermore, in triads we compare behaviour in speech-shaped noise vs multi-talker babble, and find greater movement coherence in the more complex babble condition. Key synchrony differences fall in the 0.2-0.5 Hz frequency bands, and are discussed in terms of their correspondence to talkers’ average utterance durations. Additional synchrony differences occur at higher frequencies in the triads only (i.e., >5 Hz), which may relate to synchrony of backchannel cues (as multiple individuals were listening and responding to the same talker). Not only do these studies replicate prior work indicating interlocutors’ increased reliance on behavioural synchrony as task difficulty increases, but they demonstrate these effects using multiple difficulty manipulations and across different sized interaction groups

Comparing Sampling Strategies for Tackling Imbalanced Data in Human Activity Recognition

Human activity recognition (HAR) using wearable sensors is an increasingly active research topic in machine learning, aided in part by the ready availability of detailed motion capture data from smartphones, fitness trackers, and smartwatches. The goal of HAR is to use such devices to assist users in their daily lives in application areas such as healthcare, physical therapy, and fitness. One of the main challenges for HAR, particularly when using supervised learning methods, is obtaining balanced data for algorithm optimisation and testing. As people perform some activities more than others (e.g., walk more than run), HAR datasets are typically imbalanced. The lack of dataset representation from minority classes hinders the ability of HAR classifiers to sufficiently capture new instances of those activities. We introduce three novel hybrid sampling strategies to generate more diverse synthetic samples to overcome the class imbalance problem. The first strategy, which we call the distance-based method (DBM), combines Synthetic Minority Oversampling Techniques (SMOTE) with Random_SMOTE, both of which are built around the k-nearest neighbors (KNN). The second technique, referred to as the noise detection-based method (NDBM), combines SMOTE Tomek links (SMOTE_Tomeklinks) and the modified synthetic minority oversampling technique (MSMOTE). The third approach, which we call the cluster-based method (CBM), combines Cluster-Based Synthetic Oversampling (CBSO) and Proximity Weighted Synthetic Oversampling Technique (ProWSyn). We compare the performance of the proposed hybrid methods to the individual constituent methods and baseline using accelerometer data from three commonly used benchmark datasets. We show that DBM, NDBM, and CBM reduce the impact of class imbalance and enhance F1 scores by a range of 9–20 percentage point compared to their constituent sampling methods. CBM performs significantly better than the others under a Friedman test, however, DBM has lower computational requirements

The Light: Exploring Socially Improvised Movements Using Wearable Sensors in a Performative Installation

This work explores the potential of a set, comprised of wearable sensors, a performative lighting installation, and a public museum space, to inspire performative and collaborative social behavior among members of the public. Our installation, The Light, was first exhibited as part of the Late at Tate Britain event in 2019. In this paper we discuss the concept and technological implementation behind the work, and present an initial qualitative study of observations made on the people who interacted with it. The study provides a subjective evaluation based on people’s facial expressions and body language as they improvise and coordinate their movements with one another and with the installation

Towards a Characterisation of Emotional Intent During Scripted Scenes Using In-ear Movement Sensors

Theatre provides a unique environment in which to obtain detailed data on social interactions in a controlled and repeatable manner.This work introduces a method for capturing and characterising the underlying emotional intent of performers in a scripted sceneusing in-ear accelerometers. Each scene is acted with different underlying emotional intentions using the theatrical technique ofActioning. The goal of the work is to uncover characteristics in the joint movement patterns that reveal information on the positive ornegative valence of these intentions. Preliminary findings over 3x12 (Covid-19 restricted) non-actor trials suggests people are moreenergetic and more in-sync when using positive versus negative intentions

The beginnings of an interdisciplinary study of synaesthesia: discussions about the Nussbaumer brothers (1873)

In the context of synaesthesia research, the discussion about the Nussbaumer brothers today is totally forgotten. Two articles were published by one of these brothers in 1873 with self-observations about their synaesthesia and a 19-section questionnaire – the first questionnaire in the history of this phenomenon. What was new about their synaesthesia? How was it received? In which interdisciplinary contexts was synaesthesia placed? Which new theories were developed via the Nussbaumer discussion? We answer these questions and also resolve for the first time the true identity of F. A. Nussbaumer

Synaesthetes show advantages in savant skill acquisition: training calendar calculation in sequence-space synaesthesia

Previous research has suggested that synaesthetic experiences may create the foundation for superior skills to emerge of the type found in savant syndrome (e.g., Simner, Mayo, & Spiller, 2009). People with sequence-space synaesthesia experience units of time (e.g., days, months, years) as a pattern in space, either within the mind’s eye or as a 3d projection outside of the body. Our study investigates whether sequence-space synaesthesia facilitates the learning of the savant skill known as ‘calendar calculation’ where an individual can give the correct day of the week for any given date (e.g., 18th September 1990 was a Tuesday). Using a novel experimental methodology, we trained a group of sequence-space synaesthetes as well as non-synaesthete controls how to calendar calculate over two weeks with a final calendar calculation test in the third week. We show for the first time that calendar calculation is relatively easy to acquire: following training sessions totalling one hour participants could select a day, from a set of several thousand, within ~10 seconds and with ~80% accuracy. Synaesthetes were not found to have improved abilities from the start, but they outperformed controls in our final calendar calculation test. We suggest that sequence-space synaesthesia may have provided an advantage in performing calendar calculation after the opportunity for initial learning had taken place. This supports the notion of synaesthesia as a foundation for superior, and perhaps sometimes savant-like, skills

Effects of Being Watched on Eye Gaze and Facial Displays of Typical and Autistic Individuals During Conversation

Communication with others relies on coordinated exchanges of social signals, such as eye gaze and facial displays. However, this can only happen when partners are able to see each other. Although previous studies report that autistic individuals have difficulties in planning eye gaze and making facial displays during conversation, evidence from real-life dyadic tasks is scarce and mixed. Across two studies, here we investigate how eye gaze and facial displays of typical and high-functioning autistic individuals are modulated by the belief in being seen and potential to show true gaze direction. Participants were recorded with an eye-tracking and video-camera system while they completed a structured Q&A task with a confederate under three social contexts: pre-recorded video, video-call and face-to-face. Typical participants gazed less to the confederate and produced more facial displays when they were being watched and when they were speaking. Contrary to our hypotheses, eye gaze and facial motion patterns in the autistic participants were overall similar to the typical group. This suggests that high-functioning autistic participants are able to use eye gaze and facial displays as social signals. Future studies will need to investigate to what extent this reflects spontaneous behaviour or the use of compensation strategies