[Radium]

Hi:

What are the chances that, in the next 20-50 years, that a
congenitally-deaf individual will have a chance to hear sounds via some
hi-tech electronic stimulation of the brain with electrical signals
exciting and relaxing certains parts of the brain in a similar manner
in which the auditory-cortex [of individual who can -- or could once --
hear] does? This would be a bionic substitute for the auditory cortex
that could be connected to the brain of a person who has never heard
anything from the time he/she was conceived. The brain is "tricked"
into perceiving the electronic signals as sound. The brain 'thinks'
that it is receiving signals from an actual auditory cortex but in fact
is receiving those messages from an electronic device.

Does anyone think that such technology will be available [or at least
developing] for congenitally-deaf patients in the next 20-50 years?

NOTE: Cochlear implants are peripheral rather than central. I am
talking about direct stimulation of the brain. The theoretical device I
am speaking of can cause auditory perception in a congenitally-deaf
individual in the same way auditory perception occurs in dreams [of
those who are not congenitelly-deaf] as well as auditory
hallucinations. This device would produce audio perceptions much in a
similar way that auditory-hallucinations occur -- i.e. within the brain
itself -- and could do so even in a congenitally-deaf individual who --
due to some birth-defect, perhaps -- has never had any peripheral
auditory nerves [remember, cochlear implants only work in subjects who
have peripherial auditory nerves].


Thanks,

Radium