When Prince William and Kate Middletonspoke their wedding vows before 2 billion people they might have been surprisedto learn that a laboratory in the English Lake District was making them visible.Now, for the first time in history, the symbolism of their sacred words can berevealed with the CymaScope instrument.
Just as the invention of the microscope uncovered a previously hidden realm, and the telescope opened up unseen vistas, the invention of the CymaScope reveals the once hidden realm of sound. Normally invisible voice patterns can be made visible and each is as unique as a fingerprint. This new technology involves imprinting sounds on the surface of water and capturing the sound pattern with a high-speed digital camera. When most people see voice patterns for the first time they assume they are somehow computer-generated. In reality the voice patterns,called Harmonic Voice Mandalas, are created entirely by the imprint that a person’s voice makes on the CymaScope instrument. The voice patterns of Prince William and Kate Middleton, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge,reveal some surprising results.
His Royal Highness’ voice pattern is based on the number twelve, a sacred number for many religions, including the royal Egyptian dynasties. The twelve plant-like motifs around the Duke’s voice image resemble the lotus blossom, prevalent throughout Egypt, while the central hexagon is very crown-like. A sun or star-like symbol inside Prince William’s hexagon reminds us that in ancient times all kings were associated with the sun god.
Her Royal Highness’ voice pattern contains 14 flower-like motifs, which ancient symbology suggests is someone with a vivid imagination and full of ideas, energy and vitality. The inner part of the pattern includes a seven-sided figure, a number associated with the seven virtues: Faith,Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Justice, Prudence, and Temperance.
This new imaging technology can be used in a variety of research areas, for example the team is currently developing a desk-top CymaScope model for use by speech pathologists that is hoped will lead to the development of successful therapies to support autistic and deaf children. The CymaScope permits their actual voice sounds to be made visible and when the visual equivalent of vocal sounds or words can be created in real time it becomes possible for children to see the beautiful patterns of their own voices on a monitor screen, stimulating memory functions.
Marsha Steinberger, M.A.CCC-SLP, a Speech-Language Pathologist based in Las Vegas, US who works with autistic children said, “Since many children with autism are visual thinkers the CymaScope technology provides an ideal way to capitalize on their learning style. The visual feedback offered by this new instrument offers a real ray of hope to families with autistic children—if the child can see the sounds they are making it could greatly accelerate their ability to speak and acquire language.I plan on setting up a CymaScope study as soon as funding support is available.I would also like to conduct a study of people with brain injuries as it seems likely that the interactive and fun aspect of the CymaScope imagery will be a very stimulating and enjoyable experience for brain-injured patients and may well lead to improvements in brain function.”
Significant strides have been made with the CymaScope in a project that aims to decipher dolphin language. Dedicated marine biology researcher Jack Kassewitz, who heads the Florida team SpeakDolphin.com, has worked with dolphins for a decade. Kassewtiz commented,
“Thanks to theCymaScope it has at last been possible to get some idea of what thedolphin sees in its mind’s eye when it uses its bio-sonar to look at an object.Holding a range of plastic objects in the water we captured the dolphin's soundechoes with a special microphone, which we imaged using the CymaScope. We werethen able to see the general shapes of the objects, which look similar to theultrasonography images seen in hospitals. This technology is allowing us tobuild a lexicon of dolphin words that will allow us to communicate withdolphins in their own language in the future.”
Mr Kassewitz was motivated to takethe dolphin language experiment to the next level and immediately uponrecording the dolphin’s echo sounds in one facility he drove two hours to adifferent dolphin research location. He lined up the same objects in the water,which included a plant pot, ball and plastic duck and thenplayed the echo sounds, one at a time, to one of the dolphins. Even though thecreature had never heard the sounds before, it identified all the objects witha massive 86 % success rate, proving that each sound was creating a picture ofthe object in the mind’s-eye of the dolphin. In effect Jack Kassewitz wasspeaking to the dolphin in its own language without any other instructionneeded. The graphic below illustrates the differences between imaging withlight and imaging with sound. At the bottom right the graphic shows that thereare twin acoustic horns in the dolphin’s lower jaw that capture and focus the returningecho sound pictures into each cochlea where an imprint of the acoustic energyallows the dolphin to see with sound, probably in 3 dimensions.
Sound and vibration underpin allmatter, so seeing the sounds that lie at the heart of matter helps to lift theveils that conceal many mysteries of the universe. The CymaScope represents thefirst scientific instrument that can give us a visual image of sound andvibration—a cymatic image—helping us to understand our worldand universe in ways previously hidden from view. An entirely new andexciting realm of exploration lies before us.
For further information please contact john@sonic-age.com
