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If you read his personal blog, there's a lot more detail. There's also seemingly unrelated detail, how he's paralyzed from anxiety by something as simple as ha

If you read his personal blog, there's a lot more detail. There's also seemingly unrelated detail, how he's paralyzed from anxiety by something as simple as having to ask another person if they are in line. Also seemingly unrelated he can watch the worst, most tragic news and not be affected by it, yet a sad movie movie, even a sad kids movie, will mess him up big time. And then there's the curious nature of his condition where the voice still works if he's singing, or rhyming, or doing public speaking. So I'm not saying his problem is all in his head... but I am thinking there's more to it then surgery can touch.

thras 17y ago
You use different nerves for different types of speech. It's possible that it's entirely physiological. Certain triggers cause a particular nerve spasm, and this disables his voice for a bit. Apparently, whatever the triggers are, don't involve the seldom used parts of his voice box: vocal performance, apparently. EDIT: If this were a hand, everyone would assume the problem was physiological, not psychological. If someone's hand hurts doing particular things and not other things, then you go to an orthopedic surgeon, not a psychologist. Well, the vocal system is one the most mechanically complicated parts of the anatomy.
- biohacker42 17y ago
  Here: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind.html http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_... is V.S. Ramachandran talking about hand amputees who feel their ghost hand in a painful fist. Using a mirror and their remaining hand they fool their brain into opening the fist. Here's hand pain that's clearly in not in the hand.
  - tetha 17y ago
    One problem I see with such discussion is the lack of distinction between 'there is a cause for pain in the hand' and 'the brain senses pain in the hand'. One can see this nicely if you simply think of pain as light, the pain sensors as light sensors and the brain as a microprocessor, connected to the sensors. Certainly, if light is there, then the sensors will sense light, and thus, the two statements are equal in this case. However, if the sensor only senses light, one strictly does not know if there is light or not, as the sensor might malfunction. If one realizes this distinction between the existance of a state and the recognition of a state, things grow much clearer and one does realize that whatever is going on, one must consider a malfunction of the brain and nerves.
asnyder 17y ago
Interestingly enough many of the curiosities above also affect stutterers. I wonder if a device such as the SpeechEasy which replicates the choral effect would have any impact on his condition, it does for stuttering.

thras 17y ago

You use different nerves for different types of speech. It's possible that it's entirely physiological. Certain triggers cause a particular nerve spasm, and this disables his voice for a bit. Apparently, whatever the triggers are, don't involve the seldom used parts of his voice box: vocal performance, apparently. EDIT: If this were a hand, everyone would assume the problem was physiological, not psychological. If someone's hand hurts doing particular things and not other things, then you go to an orthopedic surgeon, not a psychologist. Well, the vocal system is one the most mechanically complicated parts of the anatomy.

biohacker42 17y ago
Here: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind.html http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_... is V.S. Ramachandran talking about hand amputees who feel their ghost hand in a painful fist. Using a mirror and their remaining hand they fool their brain into opening the fist. Here's hand pain that's clearly in not in the hand.
- tetha 17y ago
  One problem I see with such discussion is the lack of distinction between 'there is a cause for pain in the hand' and 'the brain senses pain in the hand'. One can see this nicely if you simply think of pain as light, the pain sensors as light sensors and the brain as a microprocessor, connected to the sensors. Certainly, if light is there, then the sensors will sense light, and thus, the two statements are equal in this case. However, if the sensor only senses light, one strictly does not know if there is light or not, as the sensor might malfunction. If one realizes this distinction between the existance of a state and the recognition of a state, things grow much clearer and one does realize that whatever is going on, one must consider a malfunction of the brain and nerves.

asnyder 17y ago

Interestingly enough many of the curiosities above also affect stutterers. I wonder if a device such as the SpeechEasy which replicates the choral effect would have any impact on his condition, it does for stuttering.