For those of you who are unfamiliar with sensory deprivation, basically it's using some means to block a particular sense (or senses) with the end result being a sense of isolation in the sub as well as a heightened response from the other senses (in most cases for BDSM purposes, the heightened sense ends up being touch). Common methods include using a blindfold to block sight and earplugs to prohibit hearing. A sort of this can also be achieved by flooding a particular sense with a strong sensation that cannot be escaped, e.g. shoving wet panties in the sub's mouth or over his head with the crotch over his nose. It acts as a form of deprivation since that will dominate their taste or smell. Used in combination with one another can lead to a particularly intense experience for a sub.
The particular method of sensory deprivation that has shown up in my dreams is a spin on earplugs. If you are familiar with performing musicians, you probably know that most performers use some form of monitor (usually a speaker on the floor in front of them, pointing at them) to hear themselves and make sure their playing or singing is correct/good. With greater concern over hearing loss in recent years, a product known as an in-ear monitor has been developed to help prevent long-term ear damage. An in ear monitor is basically a wireless set of headphones that transmits what would normally be played over a floor monitor (upward pointing speaker). The key feature of in-ear monitors is that they also double as earplugs so that the volume that enters the ear can be controlled. Most sound isolation in ear monitors block out ~90% of sounds that aren't coming through the monitor and if the monitor is turned up fairly loud, it pretty much blocks out all external sound.
The transmitter for an in-era monitor can basically be set to send out any sound source, microphone, stereo, etc. and has a range of upwards of 300'.
Enough on of the background info and onto the meat...
In my dreams there have been repeated cases that involved some form of modified in-ear monitors. In my dreams these are slightly different in several ways. These block out 100% hearing when there is nothing being transmitted. These are shaped a bit more like hearing aids than ear bud headphones and have the receiver on board without the need for an external receiving box and have an almost limitless range (exceeding that range hasn't been a factor). The dream monitors can be locked onto the head via a simple harness so they cannot be removed and are fully waterproof.
In dreams involving these monitors they are locked onto a sub and the monitors receive broadcasts of the Mistress' voice when she speaks into a microphone (lapel, wrist-watch, etc.) and he can't hear anything except what she chooses. In addition to her voice she could have music, white noise, looped messages, signal tones, punishment sounds, etc.
It would be kind of interesting if you could only hear what she wanted you to hear.
Thank you for the information about in-ear monitors. I didn't know anything about them, and they seem to provide a much more effective choice than ear plugs. I'm a big fan of selective sensory deprivation, wherein a particular sense can be emphasized in the absence of the other senses. Taste and/or smell in the absence of sight and sound, etc. Of the various senses, sound has always seemed the most difficult to limit, and these in-ear monitors offer a real solution.
ReplyDeletePlus, the fact that they can be used to broadcast directly into a sub's ears opens a whole new world of possibilities! Is that part really possible, or just more of your dream fantasy?
The broadcast part already exists in this world. The non-removable waterproof 100% noise blocking part doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteThe monitor broadcasting/receiving systems range anywhere from $200-$3000. The higher the price the greater the range and the smaller chance of interference from outside sources. The cheapest ones have a range of ~200' and may receiver interference in urban areas from other devices running on similar frequencies (cel phones, cordless phones, etc.). There isn't much difference from a $200 unit to a $600 unit except for the frequencies it can broadcast at and the chance of outside interference and what types of headphones it includes. If you are in a home in a suburban neighborhood it's unlikely that even the cheapest ones would get significant interference.
The headphones are the other part. These devices use "sound isolating earphones" or "noise isolating earphones". These can be custom fitted by an audiologist (and in some cases these are covered by health insurance) or bought as a universal fit. The custom fitted ones are much better of course but will range from $200-$1000. The universal fit earphones will range from $20-300, with more expensive models having greater degrees of noise canceling.
I did a bit of research and found that the $100+ models of noise canceling earphones rate at around 26db worth of noise reduction. Commercial grade hearing protection earmuffs (e.g. ones someone would use if they operated a jackhammer for work) are generally rated in the -24 to -29db range. Similarly, you could feasibly put a pair of hearing protection earmuffs over the ears with the noise canceling earphones already in the ears and probably achieve a state of 100% noise cancellation.
The broadcasting units should be able to accept most sources with the right cables/converters, but a mixer would probably give the greatest versatility. e.g. hook up a microphone, an ipod, a pc, etc. to the mixer and choose which ones (and how much of each) gets sent to the transmitter. If you wanted to have it just be your voice for commands you could hook up a lapel mic or even find something with a "push to talk" type of a button.
The receiver is about the size of a pager and usually is designed to clip onto the belt (although I suppose it could be duct taped directly onto the skin as well).
A google search for "wireless in ear monitors" and "sound isolation earphones" should yield quite a few hits.
You are a never ending source of information! Thank you so much for all the data.
ReplyDeleteLady Grey,
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome.
If you need any more information please let me know.
One thing to keep in mind if you were looking to achieve a state of complete sound isolation is that stacking a pair of hearing protection earmuffs over the headphones will reduce a lot of external sound but it probably won't be uniform across all frequencies (high frequencies are likely to be filtered more than low frequencies).
However, if you were to fill the earpieces of the earmuffs with foam or cotton or something it would probably provide a noticeable boost in hearing reduction in addition to the other items.
The times I have been dressed with earplugs and then a stocking cap over the ears with a pair of sissy earmuffs over the stocking cap she would have to basically be standing right next to me shouting at my ears for me to hear her voice with any kind of distinguished words.
The possibilities of in-ear monitors are very great. Beyond wanting to isolate only your voice I could picture some fairly creative punishments, such as looping a song that he hates into the headphones for half a day and making him memorize all the words and possibly a karaoke outing after that.