
Henry Feinberg Demonstrates Using Light to Transmit Sound Waves (1978) [video] - CaliforniaKarl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf2J3HTYUHE
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Spoom
Reminds me of the scene in _Mr. Holland 's Opus_ where the title character
rigs up a system of lights to operate with the band he's directing, so that
his deaf son can "see" the music.

It makes me wonder if there is a way that we can convince the part of the
brain that interprets sound to operate on signals from other senses, such that
they can actually be heard by someone without working ears, like a controlled
synesthesia. Way beyond my knowledge and I'm sure many smarter people have
considered this in the past, so I'm sure there are reasons.

~~~
saint_fiasco
There is a device that connects a camera to some electrodes that are put in
the mouth. This supposedly lets blind people see with their tongues.

There is not a lot of bandwidth in the human mouth, so it's fairly low-
definition, but it shows your idea is not far-fetched.

[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/device-lets-
blind...](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/device-lets-blind-see-
with-tongues/)

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agumonkey
One thing that surprises me is how old science/engineering videos were friend
and down to earth. 40s army or bell labs, and this one too, is layman
approachable and enjoyable. It's chrome free, ceremony free, yet shows rare
subjects (who remembers the photophone ?)

~~~
gipp
More of a documentary than a straight educational film like this, but check
out James Burke's Connections for more of that feel.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91XWKv5UuCM&list=PLShSu-Q4iw...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91XWKv5UuCM&list=PLShSu-Q4iw9lRWwpUbCnEk6PorqG8LQTm)

~~~
agumonkey
Watched it, it was quite nice, but way less "technical" and magical than this.

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mmjaa
I've not yet understood why projects like the Twibright Ronja haven't become a
thing:

[http://ronja.twibright.com](http://ronja.twibright.com)

With a few cheap parts, we can construct localised telecommunication networks
that scale... is it just that radio is simply more efficient and less fuss,
than .. lasers?

~~~
snerbles
Experiments in free-space optics go even further back. In 1963, a group of
amateur radio operators established a laser comms link at 190km:

[http://www.modulatedlight.org/eos/operation_red_line_gallery...](http://www.modulatedlight.org/eos/operation_red_line_gallery.html)

~~~
mmjaa
This was a classic read, thanks for that!

"In truth, they scored a scientific record just for the fun of it!"

[http://www.modulatedlight.org/eos/1963_1c.gif](http://www.modulatedlight.org/eos/1963_1c.gif)

