Friday was the last day for Stephyn's blindness. For the most part I am ready to move on. The longer he was deaf, them more complex the communication became. Earlier in the week, we had been trying to determine the best way to talk to each other. Later in the week we had figured out most everything vocabulary-wise that was necessary. This led to some confidence on both our parts in our communication skills. Unfortunately, neither of us could express what we were trying to say very well. Frustration resulted, and we had to cope by signing very slowly and being particularly patient. When all else failed, we simply resorted to texting. So, was nice to be able to simply speak to Stephyn.

The data is less compelling this week as compared with last week. We saw less severe differences in taste and smell from day to day, and there didn't seem to be any real visual improvement. The data hasn't been fully analyzed, so I can't make any specific claims.

Ready to move on

Thursday:

I gotta admit that I am getting a bit burnt out. It's not that the work is hard or even terribly time consuming when considering the work load of a typical semester. It's more that I have to work harder and harder to communicate with Stephyn each day. We both are having a hard time expressing complicated notions quickly. On numerous occasions, either he or I have simply decided to remain quiet rather than trying to spend 5 minutes to relay one idea.

In addition to that, I have been dealing with some family problems that have made me less interested in working. Of course, I have to do what I need to do in order to complete my project, so I shall soldier on, but it certainly has made it more difficult. In any case, we are about finished with the scheduled deprivation periods, and that is relieving.

I will close by saying that I have certainly enjoyed learning these various methods of communicating with Stephyn throughout his deafness, but I will be glad when I can simply ask him a question verbally.

Business as Usual

Wednesday:

There hasn't been much going on this week as far as interesting events. The project has again found it's routine, which makes it a little monotonous. Of course, all lab work gets to be that way after a while. I guess the most interesting thing to report is the trend our data seems to be taking.

Last week, we saw a particular trend of increasing taste and smell perception. I found this trend to be very promising. Our hypothesis is that we do see some sort of physiological response, and we are seeing something like that. The real question then becomes why we are seeing these responses.

I think that this uptrend in olfactory and taste perception is primarily due to a higher potential for concentration. Since the brain doesn't need to focus on processing the information from an entire sensory region, more energy can be spent on processing information in the other cortices. Now, I'm not even sure that this little theory is possible, but if so, then it could explain our results. We will have to see how the deaf studies turn out.

I read newspapers, not lips...

Communication is a hard thing when you are dealing with someone who can't speak. Tuesday, we went over to the School for the Deaf and Blind again to consult with someone who is far more experienced than we are in navigating the twisting roads of sensory deprivation. Once again, our meeting proved to be worth every minute of our time spent there.

When we first arrived, we sat down in an office with our gracious contact, Kristin Milner. We first discussed the safety aspects of deafness: what we should look out for, what Stephyn could expect when walking around, etc. Of course our conversation was slow and a bit tedious as neither Stephyn or I can sign. We had earlier devised a small dry erase board from a sheet protector and a white sheet of paper, so we used that as needed. From there we went on a short tour of the school to have a look at how deaf students go about learning. The hardest thing to deal with, apparently, is discipline. Deaf children have a hard time communicating their thoughts and wishes. Many can't speak because they have never heard how to form the sounds. Those that can speak have a bit easier of a time. All children who go to the school learn sign, however, so that helps a bit. Unfortunately, not all the parents of deaf children know how to sign.

Soapbox: That is really crap if you have a deaf child and you don't take the time to learn sign. I wouldn't imagine the classes to be expensive, or even to cost anything. It is part of a parent's responsibility to communicated effectively with his/her child, and not doing so is entirely unacceptable.

Sorry about that, but when I heard that there were parents of deaf children that didn't know how to sign I almost asked for their numbers...

In any case, the child who can't communicate can't express their needs and wants. Because they have not learned an alternative, they resort to the behavior they learned as babies: crying. The difference is that they have more mobility and control over their body so they use tantrums as opposed to simple crying. Throwing things, pounding the ground, hitting, and various other things are common. Of course our society expects that children in school ought to behave better, so we have methods of disciplining them. The school employs what seem to be very patient methods of calming the child down and discovering the problem. I didn't see any episodes on our short tour, but I can imagine that the teachers are quite patient.

After our visit, we really spent the rest of the day learning how to communicate with each other. Since we don't really know sign language--we asked Ms. Milner how to do a few words like Science, Building, Go, Sign, I do/don't know, etc.--we had to invent several words as we needed them in conversation. It is still sign language, but it is not codified or recorded anywhere but our brains. It's a bit like having a secret language like I used to do when I was little. I have to admit: I get the same rush out of signing with my invented language as I did in years past.

The only thing I need to do now is figure out how to quickly sign "I know you are but what am I?"

Huh?

Today we start our deafness study. As today is a holiday, we will be unable to start the week with a School for the Deaf and Blind visit, but we have a meeting with them scheduled tomorrow morning. Judging by our last experience, the meeting should prove to be infinitely helpful in preparing us for our task.

So, right after we ran a short eye test to ensure a return to baseline visual acuity, we put in his earplugs and put on his sound canceling ear muffs. Overall, it lowers each auditory input by about 65 decibels. A loud rock concert ranges from 120-130 decibels. Soft elevator music ranges around 60-80 decibels. A rock concert would be about as loud as elevator music. Normal conversation is inaudible. So he is not completely deaf, but he is legally deaf and certainly hearing impaired. It's not perfect, but it will certainly work for our purposes.

I'm thinking that this week will certainly be an interesting one. Last week we got what looks like some good results that support our hypothesis, so here's to hoping that this week provides similar results.

I can see the Light...and it BURNS!!!

Ok, so we didn't really just flip on the switch to the florescent lights after we took the blindfold off. That wouldn't have even been funny. Of course I am talking about last Friday when Stephyn came out of his blindness.

Thursday night we experienced a fire alarm in our residence hall which was jarring for me and apparently terrifying for Stephyn. As far as I can imagine, losing sight is stressful. Being jarred violently awake into a disorienting situation of confusion and excruciatingly loud noise is a bit more intense than "stressful." Fortunately, the dorm didn't actually burn down, so no real worries. That morning, however, Stephyn told me he simply wanted to sleep in, so I figured he needed the peace for a bit. Around lunchtime, I got him up and going and we conducted our final battery of tests for the week. By three we were done, and we went back to the room. We took off the blindfold slowly into a pretty dark room. The only light was what could filter through closed blinds. Over the next half hour, we incresed the intensity of light in the room with soft incandescent bulbs. By 3:45 or so, he was seeing fine and I could see his shoulders relax a bit and the stress lines on his face start to fade away.

I am glad that part of the experiment is over. It was particularly stressful for me the last week as I am sure you could tell by my last few posts. It will be nice next week because he will be independently mobile, meaning that I won't have to be constantly watching his every step. I'm thinking we might have to get doughnuts to celebrate. Mmmmm...doughnuts.

Glitz and Glam

Thursday was pretty cool for one very simple reason: we are going to get a bit of local media coverage for our project. Thanks to a very helpful fraternity friend, we got in contact with the Spartanburg Herald-Journal. They sent out a staff report and photographer to talk to us about what we were doing. The interview went pretty well from my standpoint. We talked about everything from the project's inception, how we went about getting approval for the project, what we were doing scientifically, and what we expected as results.

It was rather fun for me because I got to show both of the folks from the paper exactly what we do each day. Some of the tests are pretty interesting in their method, and I think that they were a bit surprised at the scope of the experimentation. Of course I haven't spent time here describing what Stephyn and I do each day in the lab. Perhaps that will have to be put on priority for later.

In any case, the folks from SHJ said that the story will run a week from next Tuesday. Look for it in the paper or on goupstate.com.

The Grinder

Slowly rotating, grating together with the banshee screeching of metal on metal, the iron spike covered 55-gallon drums of The Grinder glisten with the sweat, blood, and tears of many a dedicated student. Many things can summon The Grinder from its ethereal home in the Jungian Dark side of our minds: stress, exhaustion, boredom, monotony, and sometimes even over-excitement. Once so summoned, it requires great dedication or a quick change in circumstance to banish it once again to the inky blackness of its domain...

So, I feel like it has been a bit of busy monotony lately. I guess routines have a habit of feeling that way. It's not so much that the work is difficult or even boring, but rather that it is the same. Plus, I feel like my worry valve is over-pressurizing. I shouldn't be worried about Stephyn, my data, or any of the stuff going on for this project, but there still remains something firing that cylinder.

As far as the research goes, I am fairly impressed with the results of our tests. Stephyn has out tested all of our taste solutions requiring me to make more. He has out tested the smell tests. He has done very well on the sound testing. The only thing that seems inconsistent is the touch tests (two point discrimination), but the experimental procedure is fairly inaccurate to begin with, so I would expect those results to vary wildly. Aside from the touch data, if these levels of aptitude are maintained, then I think we may have some seriously good data to present.

I guess there isn't much more to tell beyond that. Hopefully, The Grider will fade back from whence it came once this blindness phase is over. I think things will be a bit easier next week.

Luke, Control your fear!

I think the most interesting thing about this experience is how quickly Stephyn seems to be adapting to his situation. I fully expected to spend most of my time making sure he was comfortable or wasn't bored (to what extent possible for the latter). Surprisingly, he seems to be pretty much self contained. If he needs something, he is quick to tell me, but most of the time he is content to explore his surroundings or simply just relax with whoever seems to be around him.

Of course, we stay pretty busy all day. For instance, yesterday we were up by 9:30 and done with all of the morning ritual cleansing by 10:30. From then on we did our blogs, went to lunch, went to the lab, spent an hour talking to people who approached us, ate dinner, went to a movie, relaxed a bit afterward, and went to bed. The key, I guess, to staving off boredom is simply surrounding yourself with people you are comfortable with. At least that is what it seems like from my perspective. I haven't asked him.

On a side note, for the first time during this experience I relinquished overwatch of Stephyn to other trustworthy people (our fraternity buddies Zach and David). Of course we were always in radio contact (our radios can connect all the way across campus!) and cell phone contact if need be. It was a double edged experience for me. On the one side, it was nice to have some time where I didn't have to be minding Stephyn. I could relax a bit more. On the other hand, I feel that I am fairly comfortable with communicating and expressing danger. We have worked out how to do this efficiently and safely. Putting him with someone else carries a level of unfamiliarity with our system that left me a bit uneasy. Of course, I trust Stephyn, David, and Zach well enough that it wasn't a real problem for me to back off. Those guys did fine anyway. I watched them carefully from a distance to see how even walking around would be, and they both jumped in and followed Stephyn's instructions carefully. Nothing to worry about, and it is a blessing to know that if he wants to do something with them, I can be sure that he will have the same level of safety awareness around him.

Blind Leading the Blind

In a sense what we are doing is sorta like the blind leading the blind. I'm not really sure of what I am doing, nor do I want to step on Stephyn's independence. I do not, however, feel that it is appropriate to tape up his eyes and then turn him loose (so to speak). But I guess I'm jumping the gun here.

Monday morning we hopped in the car and headed for the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind. We had set up a meeting with Mrs. Vicki Banks, a teacher in the Blind School. She graciously spared an hour of her time to meet with us and talk with us about what we might expect to be difficult, how we might cope, and above all, how to manage our trial safely. She led Stephyn thorough a short training session on the use of his cane, on how to manage without the cane, and on how to be led by a sighted guide (me, in this case). It was certainly an extremely helpful meeting, and I believe that we would have been far worse off without it.

Then it was time. I pulled out the bag containing our blinding apparatus-- a pair of giant needles, a fork, and some iodine--and got to work.

Ok, so all we really had was some eye bandages that had been duct-taped over and some blacked out sunglasses, but I think the other way would certainly have been more effective at achieving total blindness, right? In any case, Stephyn was blind within 5 minutes. I asked if he were ready, and he quickly replied, "Not really" as he was closing his eyes and turning his face toward me. Of course, we had discussed his trepidation beforehand, and I understood that he was prepared for it, no matter what he said.

After that, we sort of stumbled together out of the school and into my truck. We went to the bank first as we both needed to deposit some money. It is fairly easy to guide Stephyn, and I am sure that it is mostly due to him. He is very trusting of me and responds quickly to any verbal ques or warnings of mine. I certainly appreciate that.

The rest of the day was filled with exploring the campus (the many different buildings and locations) and practicing his mobility. During these times I allowed him as much independence as I could, which means I let him run off the sidewalk or into a bush if I was sure it wouldn't hurt him. I figured the mistakes would help him learn how to walk about more quickly by noticing what different things feel like through the cane.

Our testing ran smoothly and I got some interesting results. I saw some patterns in the smell and taste testing that could suggest some confounding factors, so we shall have to take careful note of those things as the testing proceeds.

All in all, the biggest thing I learned today was to be quitely watchful. If I saw something Stephyn doing something that could injure himself or someone else, I would say something. Other than that, it is best for me to keep silent and let him figure it out for himself. He is happier with what independence he can achieve and I don't have to be constantly involved.

We are learning these roles together, and it will take time. I am sure, however, that with his determination and my vigilance we shall have some interesting results scientifically and some interesting stories for the future.

Stop! Blogging Time!

Even though I have no Hammer pants to don, nor can I dance as well as that man, I believe I shall convey my thoughts with the same jumpin' rhythmic movements and polyester sheen. Ok, maybe not...

From Guinea Pig, to over-worked researcher, this last weekend has been a trip. It started on Friday morning where I was making the base solutions for taste testing. Dr. Pittman was graciously aiding me with guesstimating how concentrated each of the salty, sweet, sour, and bitter solutions should be for the human pallet. Unfortunately, both he and I were blind to how concentrated these solutions should have been. Lemme tell you that 2 millimolar solution of Quinine (very dilute) still tastes like someone ground up 12 aspirin tablets and coated my tongue and throat with the powder. Retching ensued. Lovely, right? We diluted it far further, and it was tolerable. Still, it was an exciting experience.

Jump to Saturday: Two hours and 30 dilutions later, Stephyn and I left the lab for a bit of well deserved rest. I left town for the weekend with the idea of lounging for a day or so before I jumped into the deep end.

Sunday: Starting at 3pm, Stephyn and I started our pretest procedures. In order for our studies of the various senses to be valid, we had to first establish his sensory capabilities before any deprivations. Since this was our first attempt at any of these tests, we relied mostly on trial and error to tell us if the results were acceptable. The only bad part about said system is that in our case, we met with more error than success. We had to redo the smell test 3 times, and would have done the vision tests twice that day, but at 11pm, we decided to call it quits and hit it again in the morning. Of course, I had to prepare the tests for the morning, so I went to my room, grabbed the chips, and soldiered on. By 3am, I almost fell into the wall, so I figured I had better stop.

All in all, I guess the work is rewarding, but I can only hope that it won't be 10+ hour days from now on. That wouldn't be legit. It has to be legit. Too legit to quit.

Day 1

The first thing I thought this morning when I awoke was "is it a good sign that you overslept by two hours on your first day?" But of course, one must take things like that in stride. The day turned out alright anyhow.

I guess I should begin with what I am doing. It is my plan to conduct research in the field of sensory and perception. My partner, Stephyn, and I are focusing on the short term physiological response to losing one of the five senses, in our case either sight or hearing. He will be depriving himself of sight for a week to see if the other four senses show a quantifiable increase in acuity. The second week he will be losing his hearing. Together, we have developed a battery of tests that allows us to determine if there is improvement and by how much.

But even this description does not cover the scope of the experiment. The other major function of the month (and possibly the more important part) is to examine the social, personal, and extracurricular ramifications of being sense deprived, or in my case, caring for someone who is sense deprived. I find this portion far more interesting and exciting because it involves improving oneself and learning how to appropriately serve those who may need help. Of course, the goal for Stephyn is to try his best to be as independent as possible, though we will do nothing that will put him at any risk.

So, all of that leads to lots of prep work. Today we managed to find a place to run our experiments, gather our necessary supplies, and lay our plans for the next few weeks. All in all a successful first day. Unfortunately today's activities are hardly exciting and bear no real story value, but the work now promises much to share in the future.