Sensory Overload: Sound [video]

Frank Wartinger presented on the subject of Sound and Hearing at the 2017 Philadelphia Science Festival event titled "Sensory Overload". The evening featured scientists, researchers, and medical professionals presenting on all five senses. Each topic was masterfully paired with a craft beer sample from the event's gracious host, Yards Brewing Co.

Watch The Video

Presentations and Speakers included:

Sight by Nathan Fried, University of Pennsylvania

Taste by Marcia Pelchat, Monell Chemical Senses Center

Smell by Carlo Siracusa, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine

Touch by Abigail Wolf, Thomas Jefferson University

Science, etc...

It was a joy to represent Earmark, CHOP, and ears in general at this event with such distinguished fellow speakers. For more information about the Philadelphia Science Festival, visit http://www.philasciencefestival.org/

With inquiries regarding speaking engagements, please contact Frank@EarmarkHC.com.

Sound on Mars?

It is hard to be as excited about hearing as we are and not be excited about sound in general. That is why it is with intense curiosity that we are reading about the plans to include a microphone on the Mars 2020 rover vehicle. This represents the first time we will be able to pick up the sounds of Mars directly and transmit them to Earth. As if recording the Martian soundscape isn’t reason enough, the main purpose of the microphone is to serve the SuperCam and the LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) sensor. What does the LIBS do? Glad you asked: it vaporizes rocks with a laser.

Sounds from space, or more accurately sounds derived from the sensor and radar data of space probes, have been circulating the internet for years. They are infinitely inspiring, interesting, strange, and beautiful in their own way. They are also admittedly geeky and densely scientific, so it is understandable if the general public hasn't explored them to their fullest. The great Carl Sagan was perhaps the first to recognize the potential public interest in actual Martian sounds. Sylvestre Maurice, a planetary scientist at the Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology in France, told Space.com:

"It's science, but it's a little bit different… It's cool, not obscure."