Week 2 of COVID-19 Podcasting! In this episode we draw from our own lives to take a closer look at the life and work of Dr. Helen Brooke Taussig as well as the maddening condition of Misophonia. We discuss the progress and precedent that has been set in the field of Pediatric Cardiology due to Dr. Taussig's perseverance as well as the advances towards understanding how specific trigger sounds can affect our brains.
Week 2 of COVID-19 Podcasting! In this episode we draw from our own lives to take a closer look at the life and work of Dr. Helen Brooke Taussig as well as the maddening condition of Misophonia. We discuss the progress and precedent that has been set in the field of Pediatric Cardiology due to Dr. Taussig's perseverance as well as the advances towards understanding how specific trigger sounds can affect our brains.
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Hi, I'm Renee. Hi, I'm Sam and this is laboratory podcast. What did you do this morning? I made bread with you. It's true. Welcome to laboratory podcast. Exploring the human side of science with
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recorded interviews of emeritus and
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retired scientists on the evolution and history of scientific research throughout their careers. It's
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a welcome back to week four
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four of quarantining and Renee is parentshouse.
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Ah, but this is week two of us just making our episodes the best way we know how. Yeah, How's this week been for you
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as happy to have some sunshine? Quarantining is much easier when you could go outside in the yard work. Um, it feels like you're being productive, but other than that, it's been fine. My Ma jong skills air growing, my bread making skills air hopefully growing,
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as is your bread. It is growing
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right now with the help of its little yeast
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buddies. So helpful those yeast buddies. Did you learn anything new this week? Oh God, Probably nothing worth remembering. It
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seems I learned about Ma Xiang and making bread Two important things. He made some mosaic tiles for the card in.
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That's right. We made some stones.
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We have so creative days outside. You know, I had fun digging holes to put benches in the ground, You know, you were so active. So yeah, what about you?
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I have started daily practicing the guitar and piano.
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She sounds so good.
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I sound okay. I'm struggling my way through two handed fair Giaka
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Heritage, AKA Is Wonderful my favorite song ever.
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But what I like using is this app called use Ishan and here's a free plug for it because I find it so helpful. But it it walks you through each lesson, and I feel like it's a Ziff. You were playing rock band, but on an actual instrument, which is something I wish I had done when I was in high school, and then it was always a rock band.
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Afterwards, it says, Good job, you did it and it tells her how many notes she missed on. Then you just you never grumble from the next room over, and she's like I missed a note.
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One thing also I didn't tell you is that every time you pass a little level, it gives you a certain tiffin kit that if you if you would like it. I would have so many suitors e But I don't choose that
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option. I'll print them out for you. Thanks. So been doing
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that? Um, trying to read more, Trying to apply for artists to grants. Um, in Massachusetts they have some really good ones, it seems, but everyone's applying for them. Well, yes. Makes sense. So, um, I guess I'll also shout out to all the artists and everyone out of work. You're at least being a little creative in your off time. Yeah, and hope for the best for you.
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So that's where we are. I hope you're all staying healthy and doing the best you can with an pushing on through with whatever you have in making it happen. I miss all the dogs from the work. I would like
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to see them, but we're thankful for all the dogs of Instagram.
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We are very thankful for the dogs of Instagram. And there were eight dogs and the dog ist I keep my
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life going. It's true. And what's that? Um that one dog that you look
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at my look at a lot of dogs.
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The one the pit bull would see
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the pit bull adorable on all of his babies R us. Um, but so they're not here to talk about rennais obsession with dogs and instagram. Um, we're here to talk about science. We are so today once again, similar to last week. We are doing too short. Yes, stories that the other person does not know the topic of yet over the fact that I think I know Sam's topic. You
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probably do. I was talking about different ideas.
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Yeah, earlier. Um, so last week we talked about dis ease and Maria Marion today we're going to talk about I have one other person to talk about, and Sam has a topic. So let's learn from Sam. I would like you to
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go first, actually.
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Let's switch it up. You can do it. Oh, boy. Okay, so today I am talking about Helen Brooke Taussig. Do you know who that iss? No. Okay, some before I dive into it. Um, my references for this are from the changing the face of medicine website, the Britannica website, the Wikipedia web site. The Jackson Laboratory had a really good article on her as well. And then there's two things one that I partially red which was the Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library, has a book that's about 244 pages on her is called a Gentle Heart. The Life of Helen Taussig and then on online library Wiley. There's the doctor, Helen Brooke Taussig, a living legend in cardiology. Ah, and it's from the profiles and cardiology, and it's three pages long, So lots of articles out there for you to read and books if you are interested. Um, so Helen is often referred to as the mother of pediatric cardiology or the founder of pediatric cardiology, the first lady of cardiology and the world's most famous female physician. So she was born on May 24th in 18 98 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Frank Taussig and Edith Thomas Gill. She is the youngest of four Children. Her father was an economist at Harvard, and her mother was one of the first students at Radcliffe College, and she shared her passion for botany and zoology with her growing up. She also spent time in Cotuit, Massachusetts. Oh, I know. Could do it is on Cape Cod. So she bounced between there and here. Um, when she was 11 years old, her mother passed away from tuberculosis at this time Helen also contracting the disease, which affected her ability to do schooler. She also struggled with dyslexia and was partially deaf, however, with tutoring from her father, who always supported her education. She was able to succeed in school, and she went on to university. However, she always struggled with this, and reading was never an enjoyable thing for her. In 1917 she graduated from Cambridge School for Girls, and then she went on to study at Radcliffe College. For two years, we should became a champion tennis player. Then she proceeded to get her bachelor's degree at UC Berkeley in 1921 where she was also inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She was smart. Is
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that a smart sorority?
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That is, that is the highest level of um, it's all based on your G P a and your grades, and you have the public perfect for 0.0 type thing to get into that society.
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Great. So, yes, so she sounds Mart.
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Yes. After undergrad, she wanted to study at Harvard Medical School, but they did not accept women into the program, and that was the case until 1945 boom. You're gonna get more angry here. She considered applying to study public health there, but she learned that woman could attend the program and take the classes, but not get rewarded. The degree. And she had asked the dean, who wants to study for four years and get no degree for all that work. And the dean said, nobody. I hope he did not want girls doing those studies in getting those degrees
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bone him out.
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Um, I think we're a little past there now. Good. Um, So then she went, and she took classes at Boston University in histology, which is the study of tissues. The microscopic study of tissues, bacteriology, study of bacteria and anatomy. Not everybody where she expected to not interact with her male classmates not supposed to attract them at all. In 1925 she published her first paper on the heart muscles of the ox with her professor Alexander Beg and bed encouraged. Heard applied to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, which is one of the first team medical schools to accept woman at the time as full degree candidates. So in 1927 she completed her medical degree at Johns Hopkins. She remained there for one year as a cardiology fellow in two years as a pediatrics intern. She also received two Archibold fellowships from 1927 to 1930. There her goal was to specialize in internal medicine, but there is only one position for a woman in that field, and it was already taken. So she decided on paediatrics, specifically pediatric cardiology, which was a field still in its infancy. By the time she was done with her studies, which was in her thirties, early thirties, she had lost her hearing completely and solely relied on hearing aids and lip reading for the rest of her life. Oh, boy, Oh, yeah. Okay, so she struggled. But she's a bad ass, but she is about us. She continues to bay. How did she come up on top in 1930? Helen's brilliance, while working at Johns Hopkins as an intern was not unnoticed, especially by a certain individual. Edwards a park, and he was the director and eventual chief of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins. He aided in promoting Helen to be the head of the Children's Heart Clinic of the Johns Hopkins Hospital Pediatric Unit, which was the Harriet Lane home. This made her one of the first woman in the country to hold a prestigious position like this and just only 32. She stayed there until her retirement in 1963. Wow, So let's talk about all the awesome work she did during that time. Lets you do so. She was a force of nature due to her lack of hearing on the fact that the stethoscope was still the standard method of listening to heart beats. She became innovative and how she listened to her patients heartbeats, distinguishing rhythms by touch rather than by sound.
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So any time you touch your neck or your touch your wrist to get
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your or the child chest, she was able to touch it and start to listen. Um, and Munch is older. She had surgery to partially repair her hearing, but she still preferred to listen by touch. Yeah,
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that seems more intimate,
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huh? And in her research, Helen became interested in the symptoms associated with specific heart malformations. She was extremely detailed in her notes and clinics and correlated her findings to the abnormality she found while performing autopsies. Using this knowledge combined with chest radiographs, fluoroscope E and echocardiograms, which were all relatively new technologies. She was able to start toe accurately diagnosed heart defects in living patient, and she is most known for her role in developing a surgical treatment for a congenital heart defect. Using the method of touch for detecting heartbeats, she's able to start recognizing patterns in heartbeats of infants who outwardly displayed a cyanotic Hugh. What's that? These air babies known as Blue Babies or the blue baby syndrome? Visually, their skin starts to look a little blue. And by using her hands her touch, she's able to start to differentiate the different murmurs that associated with different heart defects. Oh, yeah, just brilliant. Yeah, it sounds it so. The blue baby syndrome is a visual symptom that is often caused by tetralogy of follow. And I'm going to refer to this as tech babies because that is what they're often referred to. Us noted and tetralogy of Fallout is a congenital defect that reduces the amount of oxygenated blood that flows through the body, and it's actually four different defects all combined together. And Helen established that babies who suffered from a noxeema, which is reduced amount of oxygen had a leaking septum, which is the wall that separates the chambers of the heart. On top of that, they also had an underdeveloped artery leading from the heart to the lugs. So basically, she discovered that the infants had decreased pulmonary blood to the lungs, which in turn reduce the amount of blood available for oxygenation. Further simple flying that she is at least the leaking chamber walls where you have some blood in your heart is oxygenated. Some of it is de oxygenated, so when your heart pumps, you're de oxygenated. Blood goes to your lungs to get oxygen returns to your heart, and then it pumps out to the body to deliver that oxygenated blood to the rest of your body. Then it comes back de oxygenated. Leaking chamber walls, plus an underdeveloped artery means that less blood is going to your lungs to get oxygen. So that means when your blood is pumped it on your body, there's no less oxygen being circulated around your body. Makes sense. It does make sense. So she also observed that these patients worsened when they're duct. Is arterial sis closed? Now what's that doctor's arterial says which is the D. A, is a small blood vessel that connects her pulmonary artery to the aorta of the fetus, and this allows oxygenated blood to be sent to the body without accessing the lugs. It happens when you're developing, um in your mother's stomach, because your lungs are still filled with water. And so it's another way for oxygen to be circulated throughout your body without relying on going to your lungs with their normal passageways. So it's kind of the secondary route that it gets to take, however, for tech babies when it was open, there is that other route for the oxygenated blood to be pumped around the body, which helped out this lack of oxygen because of the weakened pulmonary artery going to your lungs. And when that closed because it closes shortly after birth, it became more difficult for these babies to survive. That extra little helpful passageway closed up naturally, as it should, and then that made it more difficult. So there's a different defect, and that's called Patton doctors arterial sis, which is where the defect, where that D A does not close, and so normal babies that causes too much blood to get oxygenated cause all of a sudden you have your blood going to your lungs like normal. But then also through this extra passageway, Helen noted that for Tet babies, when they had this defect where that didn't close, they fared much better because their blood had another way to get oxygen and get it around their body. And so, in 1939 a new surgery by Robert Gross had corrected this defect by artificially closing that vessel. So babies that on Lee had the d A defect the one with that extra passageway he was figure out a way to close that vessel on those babies could survive. They no longer got extra oxygen in their body. And seeing that solution, Helen proposed the idea of basically doing the opposite of that surgery for tech babies by creating an arterial patent, doctors or a Sean. And so she approached Gross with this concept, and he was dubious, and he told her, I have enough trouble closing the doctor's arterial sis. I certainly don't want to make an artificial one. So he was not on board boom. His loss. So it was 1941 when Helen suggested this concept of John Hopkins, new chief of surgery Alfred Blalock and his surgical technician, Vivian Thomas. Together, the three of them developed what is now known as the Block Thomas Taussig shunt. And here's a signed note. Originally is a black housing because Thomas was overlooked due to his non AC academic role because he was a surgical technician and not a doctor himself, and he was a man of color. So he was not given the credit initially and the aftermath. He was then given the credit for all the work that he did on this well as it should be. Yes rate. And Thomas, recalling the moment that this idea was proposed by Helen, said this Helen passionately described her patients and their plight and that no known medical treatment existed. She went on to suggest that their only hope was a type of surgical approach to, and I quote, Helen, get more blood to the lungs as a plumber changes the pipes around just changing the pipes of your heart. Just a few little changes in the heart plumber. Hold on.
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I need to get in there, uh, hard in my chance falling do
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o. So these Tet babies often did not survive very long. If you don't get oxygen to your body. If you do survive, you tend to be in a wheelchair for the rest of their lives at that point in time, so that it really was no solution for these Children. And following extensive experiments on November 9th, 1944 the first surgery was performed on a human patient, Eilene Saxon. Eileen was a Tet baby who was underweight, blue in color and could barely drink. The procedure was an immediate success. Her color returned to normal quickly as she could drink milk, and she gained more weight. Two months later, she was discharged from the hospital on The surgery is Considered a miracle was written about in life and times of newspapers around the world, unfortunately, but she became cyanotic. Sometime leader. I'm passed away before her second birthday, and while her death was extremely unfortunate, the success prior to it proved that the shunt in principle could be used to extend lives of patients. By 1945 this team had performed the surgery on three infants with stenosis of various degrees and each of which was greatly benefited from the surgery and their general condition improved for all three of them. They published their results in the Journal of American Medical Association. They presented lectures on the topic worldwide, and quickly the procedure was accepted. Baltimore settling became a hub toe have blue babies treated by Blalock, Taussig and Thomas. The institution struggled to keep up with the growth, and by 1951 that operated on 1000 Children, with a mortality rate of only 5% impressive. That's great. So the legacy of this shunt the major benefit of the surgery that Children gained the ability to play actively without rapid exhaustion and loss of consciousness. That typically happened if you had this defect and had survived previously. Helen kept a letter on her mantelpiece from a 12 year old boy who underwent the procedure, and it said in French. But I'm not gonna say it in French. I am now a completely new boy. I'll be able to play with the other Children. That's beautiful, very sweet. Oh. Nowadays, the shunt is used as a way to prolong life and improve health before the defect could be definitively repaired, and so it's commonly a first step in procedures. Um, and for Tet babies, it's the first step in what is called the Norwood procedure. So you'll get this surgery a few weeks a few days, three months after you're born with this condition, so that when you have this surgery allows you to gain some more weight, become a little bit healthier, little bit stronger before having a larger surgery to correct your defect in a more final matter. Um, at the time of Helen's death, tens of thousands of Children were saved by this procedure. However, this is not all that she did, because remember she was a force of nature. She published over 100 academic articles over her career, including various aspects of cardiology is such as biomedical ethics, an evolutionary origins of heart disease. In 1947 she published her name Piece of Work, which was the congenital malformations of the heart and that is considered to be the foundational text of pediatric cardiology as an independent field. And she helped establish the sub board of Pediatric cardiology, which solidified pediatric cardiology as a separate specialty from adult cardiology, which it is if you're treating somebody who has, um, heart attacks and, um, obesity related health heart issues that is very different than treating a newborn infant makes sense to me. And now there's even adult congenital heart departments treating adults who had congenital diseases because they're now adult and they're like, Oh, you still have different defects than adults who developed um during their lifetime in 1949 alongside Richard Bing, she described a condition that is now known as the Taussig Bing syndrome, which is the second most common type of double outlet. Right ventricle. Double outlet right ventricle is you have you're a order and your pulmonary artery one comes out of your left ventricle. One comes out of your right ventricle, double outlet right ventricles when they both come out of your right ventricle and nothing comes out of your left ventricle. She also became a full professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1959 and was a second woman to do so, Lulu, and due to her leadership of the Harriet Lean home, it became a world leading center for surgeons. Other work that she did cause again force of nature. In 1960 Germany and the Netherlands had a high percentage of Children being born with folk Amelia, which is a rare condition where the limbs are absent or small and abnormally formed. She traveled to Germany, and after examining some of the Children and working there for a bit, she agreed with the pediatrician would do kind lens. W i D u k I nd would occur in lens, uh, who have drawn a link tothe Alamodome meid. Hello, Demise. You spell it T h a l i e d o m I d e fella do meid. Sure, a sleeping drug that was often taken by pregnant woman and the presence of this defect. So there's a link between this drug, this defect that happened and so back in America, she launched a campaign to stop the pending approval by the FDA of this drug, including testifying before Congress. And this caused the drug to be banned in both America and in Europe. Well, after she retired in 1963 she continued to teach, lecture and lobby for causes including abortion rights and female health rights and drug rights. And she wrote 41 of her 129 papers after her retirement.
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Who's to say You can't get worked up like the entire,
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um, And so some awards and honors she's got in, which is way too many to list. In 1954 she got the Lasker Award for her Blue Baby operation work. In 1964 she got the Medal of Freedom from Lyndon B. Johnson. 1965. She became the first female president of the American Heart Association. In 1976 she was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. She's 20 honorary degrees, and in 2005 Johns Hopkins named a college after her as well as the now Helen Be Taussig, Congenital Heart Disease center and so so so many others Saving the way. Mmm. So Helen passed away on May 20th 1986 which is four days shy. Eyes of her 88th birthday, Um, and this happened after getting into a car accident while driving to a
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local election s so still doing her
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doing her part, and she donated her body to John Hopkins Medical Center for Research. Nixon's So that is the story of Ellen Pasig. She's brilliant. She's amazing. Thank
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you for all of the work that you've
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done so. Yeah, I like that story. I liked her life. I love the fact that she did this while struggling to hear and figuring out a way to communicate with her patients and communicate with other doctors through lip reading and the fact that she really was able to feel the Children's heartbeats and even tthe e irregular heartbeats. Those minor differences that happen is astounding. Yeah, it's
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such an inspiring story of overcoming what obstacles may be presented in your life to do the thing that you feel so passionate about, huh? See, Don't let it hold you back. You can find a way to work around it. Do it?
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Yep. So that's my story. I like it. Okay. Do
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you want to go into why you chose
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that little Oh, I chose that story because I had heart surgery as a kid. And so having a female heart surgery, pediatric cardiology story was wonderful. I one of I was not a Tet baby, but people thought that I was people assume I was, um but I did have a double right ventricle as part of my five congenital diseases that I got so is nice to learn about this even if this wasn't directly applicable to the, um So the surgeries that I had, it was still, uh, still a
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step in the direction. Well,
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a step in the direction that everything piles on top of each other. That one guys, um, surgery to fix one defect resulted in her figuring out a way to fix another defect. And so everything grows on top of one another. Mmm, That's
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great. Especially when we share it with everyone.
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Yeah. All right. So now that we learned about Helen, what are we gonna learn about from
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Sam? So we are going to learn about some sound related stuff. Shocker. And I like sound. I have been interested on how sound affects the brain and all its various ways. And when I was just a young theater person coming up, I had this feeling that I'd studied neurology at my lake. Ah, half life crisis.
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Ok, Are we there yet?
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No, we're not there yet,
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but I've always been interested
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and s So when I was studying theater, I would get these books about sound affecting the brain and how I can use it in storytelling. And then through that. I'm like, Oh, but it it affects your brain and so many other ways and through learning about sound and theater Um, I'm talking to so many cool professors that have enlightened how it sound effects the brain. I've just been more and we're interested in him all right, I want to First of all, think my sources that I got this information from I won't tell you what the topic is yet because I'm going to think these people. So I went to Web empty, um, the Harvard Neuro Studies website, cell dot com current biology's. And I use Wikipedia because it
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because it is grab these were thank you. I recognize those of some scientific ter
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friends, live science dot com and the international O. C. D Foundation. All right, so my my topic is the study of miso phone, Eah, alright. Or
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why some peep will become enraged by sounds such as eating or breathing and how it's
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been explained by brain scan studies.
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E. So if you're listening, you're in
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quarantine and you're with ah, whole bunch of people.
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You may have had some interactions
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where people make
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some annoying send, and I've always been
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intrigued about why people get really upset. I am also one of the things that gets really upset by certain sounds. And it seemed so. I are
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grieving, bothers her sometimes, and I
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can't explain why. And I I have I have a feeling of shame about it. I'll be honest. Um, but when I was a kid, uh, one of my siblings also had they had Tourette's syndrome and I would just get so upset by all these sounds and I never understood why. And there no one really talked about it, but
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and have you learned more? Now? I've
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learned more, but it's still such a new study. So this came about. I mean, people have been trying to study. People have been known like they known about it for a while, but it seems like not until, like, recently, like to thousands people didn't really have, like, a name for it. Okay, now they're calling me Sinfonia. So? So the question is, does the seemingly innocent sound like someone chewing potato chips? Shoot up your heart rate and send your brain into a frenzy or something, like nails scraping across a chalkboard? You know that sound
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would you say it made you feel as if
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you were caught in a life and death situation? And if you have me Sinfonia though it sounds, convey que feel like that is you the fight or flight response? The condition muse a phony is far more than simply disliking noises, such as nails being scraped down a blackboard or someone doing potato chips. It's a mysterious condition characterized by the experience of strong negative emotions, often anger and anxiety in response to everyday sounds people make like humming, chewing, typing and even breathing. Don't get me started, although at first glance it may sound like an unfortunate but trivial annoyance. Studies so far paint a more serious picture. So there is a scientist, Olana, Tansley, Hancock from Kent, she told the BBC News. I feel there's a threat, and she gets the urge to lash out. It's the fight or flight response. Anyone eating crisps is always going to set me off. The rustle of the packet is enough to start a reaction. So in the study she participated in uh at multiple centers in the UK They scanned the brains of 20 Mies Oh phonic people and 22 people without the condition. They're played a range of sounds in the M R I machine, including sounds of rain, unpleasant sounds, such a screaming and people's trigger sounds. So the list of trigger sounds if you have the Sinfonia, are sucking through the teeth sounds sniffing the sight of gum chewing or eating with the mouth open, and we'll get into the sight of it cause that kind of also plays into it. Pet licking or nails clicking, clearing of the throat, high heels on hard floors and dogs barking
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minus chewing. I cannot stand the sound of chewing right. I make noises in my head so that I can drown out other people chewing sounds.
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What are the noises that you make in your head?
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That's an interesting way to to deal with it. Yeah. Um So the results of
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this study were published in the journal Current Biology. It revealed that the part
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of the
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brain that joins our senses with our emotions the anterior insular cortex was overly active when people cited music Phone yah. So I explored the current biology website cell dot com, and some of the highlights about Musa phone yah are as follows Trigger sounds from use a phony. A elicit exaggerated response. An anterior insula in Musa phone yah, there's an abnormal function. Connectivity oven. Anterior insula. It's
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heightened. Autonomic responses are mediated high as an automatic a u
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t o N O M i c.
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All right. I'm trying
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to read the science, so it's It's grating right off the
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TV, I can tell. So heightened autonomic
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responses. Air mediated by anterior insula in Musa phony. Um, and me is a phony A is associated with altered, intrusive exception. So what does that mean? What does that mean? Oh, and I have a little note. I'm sorry if I pronounced anything wrong there. I mean, did you
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hear me? Just pronounce everything wrong,
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Okay, we're learning. You can feel free to correct us if you'd like, but do it nice. All right. Uh, so, basically, what the saying is that people are going into overdrive when they hear the sounds, but the activity is specific to the trigger sounds and not other two sounds. And primarily the sounds from the trigger sounds that people are hearing are, um, being heard by their anterior insula. That one is what one again. The anterior insular
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cortex. Yes. What? When was that one again?
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It, uh, it's part of the brain that joins our senses with the emotion. So it's just going into overdrive when you hear these. That where is if you don't have me Sinfonia than it kind of his chill. Okay, three reactions. Anger mostly not discussed. The dominating emotions, anger, and it looks like a normal response. But then it goes into overdrive. And this, uh, study that came out of Newcastle University said there are no treatments. But the scientist I started before Alanna developed coping mechanisms such as using earplugs or like Rene does make other sounds.
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And they say it's still not clear how common the
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disorder is, as there's no clear way of diagnosing it, and it's only recently discovered. Ultimately, the researchers hope, understanding the difference in the Musa Phonic brain will lead to new treatments. So what is it? What is this
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thing down? Help me, please.
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I then went past the highlights PS on this current biology. Um, and I'm going to read their scientific description of what this is
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Okay. And then we're gonna break it down, miss a
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phone yah is an effective sound processing disorder characterized by the experience of strong negative emotions, anger and anxiety in response to everyday sounds such as those generated by other people eating, drinking, chewing and breathing. The commonplace nature of these sounds, often referred to as trigger sounds, makes me so phony, a devastating disorder for sufferers and their families. And yet nothing is known about the underlying mechanisms using functional and structural M. R. I. Coupled with physiological measurements, we demonstrate that Misa Phonic subjects show specific trigger sound related responses in brain and body. Specifically, s m r. I showed that Miss a phonics subjects trigger sounds illicit, great, greatly exaggerated blood oxygen level dependent responses in the anterior insular cortex, a core hub of the salience network that is critical for perception of introspective signals and emotion processing, trigger sounds and music Phone IX were associated with abnormal, functional connectivity between a. I see that's anterior insular cortex and a network of regions responsible for the processing and regulation of emotions, including ventral medial, prefrontal cortex, pasta, remedial cortex, hippocampus, end of Magdala, trigger sounds elicited heightened heart rate and galvanic skin response. In Music Phonic subjects, which were mediated by a I see activity. Apparently a questionnaire analysis showed that Musa Phonic subjects perceived their bodies differently. They scored higher on intercept of sensibility than controls, consistent with abnormal functioning of a. I see then brain structural measurements implied greater violin ation. And I want to say that the Greater Milo Nation on their um, from what I understand is that the I see the anterior insular cortex that is the only correlation with which each apparent suffer of music phone yah identifies with Okay. So as of right now, science has only noticed that over a mile a nation pattern has been happening in these brains.
spk_0: 37:53
And what do you mean when you say Melanie, it's fat? Yeah, like
spk_1: 37:59
a fatty substance coating these. It's weird and very interesting. And I mean, if any neurologist wants thio chime in on this, that would be helpful. But overall, the results show that Miss a Phony is a disorder in which abnormal salience is attributed Part two particular sounds, based on the abnormal activation and functional connectivity of the anterior insular cortex and for the researching. I found that NPR did a great story on it called when life's noises drive you mad story about an 18 year olds journey growing up and being extremely sensitive to their surrounding and the 18 year old is described. They describe the condition by saying, It's a ziff. The survival part of the brain thinks somehow it's being attacked or in danger. So again, the fight or flight response. Um, but because so little is understood about this condition, the people around those suffering from it have trouble believing or understanding how painful their symptoms can be.
spk_0: 38:54
All right, I'm gonna pause you for a second and regular. I ask again, What is Milo Nation? It's much more than fat. Just understand it a bit more. So Meiling forms around the axe ons of your neuron. So you got the long parts of your neuron cells. So Milon forms on the Exxons in what is called a mile in sheath like Like George Like a like a sword chief? Yeah, yes, sort of. My lifetime. So, um, and my land enables nerve cells to transmit information faster and allows more complex brain processes. And so the more the mile a nation process is important to the healthy central nervous system functions Moloch nation. Thank you were learning You're learning and I do it like I called some of that from my studies and college. I do admit
spk_1: 39:51
this is new to me, and I will again say that I am not the poster person for this. And I don't know. As much as I would like to know, if this is my first for a really into researching this topic, I've been mostly in my past, interested on how sounds positively affect the brain. Um, but then when I saw this So I read about this a couple weeks, maybe like, two months ago, and was just it God Lightbulb went off in my brain. I'm like,
spk_0: 40:21
Oh, I have this. Yeah, and I didn't realize that other people didn't correct. I just always thought
spk_1: 40:30
that noise is made Everyone upset.
spk_0: 40:33
But it's a weird thing for being a sound engineer. That noise is making upset. Well, they do, because So, um, the thing about
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noises and the fact that we can't like, shut our ears off, it's It's a total like survival mechanism. Um, because if we couldn't hear, Lake would let's say we're talking about cave people don't hear the woolly mammoth coming to get you right? Yeah. If you didn't know to run like the fight or flight responses, then you would be dead if you could just shut your ears off. So it's been very important to keep identifying this, and sound is so intricately connected to such emotion thing it's it's triggered. We can go over the responses, but it's mostly rage, anger, hatred. It's just like in a a split second. You hear this? And then you get really emotional for no reason whatsoever. Somebody could be sitting quietly and just need to breathe, and then you could be, How dare you breathe? Um, but most people experience it, and then they get, um, they ruins their social life like it can be really hard for them to process, especially if they don't have anyone to talk to you about it or they're living growth, close proximity and the brain can make up so many different scenarios, and then that person can alienate themselves from everyone else. Mmm. I've definitely done that. You can't, um, get it from any one thing. There's no riel clear way of how do you get? It mostly develops between the ages of nine and 13. It's more common with girls, apparently comes on quickly, but it doesn't appear to be related to any one event, and the doctors aren't sure what causes it. Um, not. It's not a problem with your ears. They think right now it's part mental. Part physical could be related to how sound effects brain and triggers automatic responses in your body. I have a guess that it has something to do with the vibrations of things, and also the more I think about it. Sometimes the more I wonder if it's you're you think that something is wrong with that person that they have to keep doing there. Whatever activity that is, that triggers you breathing. But if it's like, um, hampered breathing So like, say, for instance, uh, someone sniffles a lot, yeah, then their immune system. Whatever is causing them to sniffle lot is is that messaging is coming across you with me so phony A. And you're like this person's not right. Like why? What's going on with them? That their snuffling, it's like, got it? That's like the closest I can come to explaining the way I feel about it. okay. It's like I'm concerned for this person. But then it comes out his anger, which is so frustrating
spk_0: 43:20
displeasing. Yeah, everyone involved three. Ah, and then with the way to treat it, it's It's still
spk_1: 43:28
because people are still studying this, um, and they're trying to learn how to make it better. They don't really have one cure all solution. But treatment often involves a multi disciplinary approach, combining sound therapy by audiologist and supportive counseling in which coping strategies air emphasized, Um, you could try a device like a hearing aid that creates the sound in your ears similar to, say, a waterfall, and that noise could distract you from triggers and reduces reactions. Um, or you could try talk therapy. But basically, um, things that you can do without going thio a therapist or stuff like that is, um, changing your lifestyle. You start getting regular exercise plenty of sleep, just making sure that you are healthy in mind, body and spirit. Managing your stress level. You can try wearing earplugs and headsets to tune out sounds or set up quiet areas or safe spots in your home where you can just go on and feel safe and quiet, where no one will make the noises that bother you. Um, and you confined support. So there's a music phony a association, and it's based in Oregon and California. They hold a yearly convention for sufferers and the International Miss a Phony a research network or on me. Sinfonia Dash research dot com is resource for doctors and researchers interested in learning more about me. Sinfonia um, you can also find the information on Ms a phony a international dot com Ah, they offer free resource is such as handouts for parents and Webinars, an association with Duke University for those in the U. S. Canada and the U.
spk_0: 45:05
K. All right, so there's a lot of
spk_1: 45:08
resource is out there. People are still learning. I would love to learn more about this and put it into some kind of theatrical context because I feel like it would be nice for those suffering from that to be seen. And it would be in ah, really creative way to process this. Yeah. Um, but yeah. No, I feel very strongly about this, cause I think on a personal note, I Oh, no, no. Wish I had talked to someone when I was little about this, and maybe you would have believed some anger. So I hope, learning about this
spk_0: 45:48
canal, someone else. Yeah, well, that's interesting, right? I never knew that over Milo Nation over Mile A nation, which is not just fat, but she was so excited when she said fat it was. But I appreciate the actual scientists coming through. Try inciting. That's why I have my computer here. Yeah, I was like, I definitely took a test on that at one point in my life.
spk_1: 46:11
So thank you to all those sources for educating me. And all of the resource is put out there for other people to come and learn about this.
spk_0: 46:20
Yeah, this thing. Well, thank you for teaching us that, um we hope that you appreciate learning about this. Somehow they send tended to both be involved with sound and hearing somehow this time around, I
spk_1: 46:35
know magically, you were both about the human body and the advances and learning about it. Who knows? It will
spk_0: 46:41
be next time. I
spk_1: 46:42
know so many different things we can do. If you have any items that you'd like us to look up or talk about in particular Anything of scientific note that you're like,
spk_0: 46:51
Oh, this is really cool. You should let us know You love to hear from you on. And speaking of, we're still a new podcast. What a surprise. That has not changed. Um, you can find us on Instagram at laboratory podcast. You can check us out on our website laboratory cash dot com. Um, got a Twitter laboratory pod. You
spk_1: 47:19
can find us on Facebook by searching laboratory podcast.
spk_0: 47:23
The, uh, age you American Geophysical Union there blogged the plain spoken scientist published our little write up on April 6th 2020 and today's April 9th. I'm a little blurb that we wrote laboratory podcast lifting the veil on the science community s O that is out in the world and hopefully will gain some more people to read it as well. Yeah. Go check out the plain spoken scientist. Shout out to Shane Hanlin. Yes, And learn more about science. We have an email which is laboratory podcast at gmail dot com. Feel free to email us. We're home. Wake unread. Emails from quarantine. Yeah, if
spk_1: 48:06
you're feeling up to it, we know you're probably beauty 1000 things. Unless You're an essential worker. And again thank you. Can't thank you enough. Thank you. Thank you.
spk_0: 48:16
Thank you. Oh, um So, yeah, that's it. That's it for this week. What
spk_1: 48:25
are you looking forward to doing
spk_0: 48:26
next week? Making more bread? Speaking off, it has been about an hour, and we need to go fold our bread.
spk_1: 48:33
All right. To be
spk_0: 48:35
updated as to how this bread goes. Well, let me know next week. Thank you for listening. And come back next week as we spend scientific stories from years. Beautiful. I came up with it just now to tell. Yes. Okay, Audio. How many times? Come, Sam, say goodbye.
spk_1: 49:34
Adios. Goodbye. See you later.
spk_0: 49:38
Jumped. Attempt of Toto. Toto! Toto! Toto! Dad! Just furniture. Sam talking there ourselves.