Music to your ears? Try a headphones implant like Rich Lee

'Grinder' can listen to music player by wearing a loose wire coil around his neckDon't offer Rich Lee a pair of headphones to listen to music: he's already got a pair, even though you can't see them. They're implanted in his ears – a procedure carried out by a "body modification" expert.Now, by connecting his music player to a loose wire coil around his neck (which he can tuck under his shirt), Lee can listen to music without blocking out the outside world. The tiny magnets implanted invisibly in his outer ears pick up the signal and generate sound.But that's only the beginning. Lee, 34, who works as a salesman, intends to hook it up to an ultrasonic rangefinder – effectively giving himself bat-like echolocation. And he would like to have X-ray vision, super-strength, and anything else that gene therapy or technology might be able to offer.While thousands of people around the world having had their bodies "augmented" through standard medical procedures – such as artificial hips, cochlear implants, pacemakers, heart valves, and of course breast implants – the idea that you might want to have headphone implants might not seem odd.Lee describes his aim as "self-augmentation and enhancement": "If I see a way to eliminate the need for sleep I will never sleep again," he told the Guardian. "If I can have x-ray vision through some cybernetic technology I will have it, even if it requires an ocular prosthetic that leaves me looking like a monster. If I discover a gene therapy...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Music News guardian.co.uk Technology UK news Science Source Type: news