Received this rather disturbing report about the purchase of a Thinkman
unit which does not live up to its advertising according to the author.
I am not including the email address of this person because this message
will be archived.
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Here is the email;
I recently (6/99) purchased a Flanagan Neurophone at $ 695.00 form
EarthPulse Press in Alaska.
Supposedly, these folks are the true representatives of Dr. Flanagan and
his products. At any rate since I could hear the output on my skin, I
started to wonder "how do I know that this thing really transmits
anything over an ultrasonic carrier?".
The first thing I did was to listen to a small audio amplifier using the
Neurophone headset --- it turns out that the audio amplifier's
performance was identical to that of the Neurophone.
Then, I decided to build a high-pass pi filter with a cutoff of around
23,000 hz to test this 'wonderful' device. Not too surprisingly when
the Neurophone's output was run through the high-pass filter and then to
the headset, there was no output of any kind at the headset.
The current Neurophone does not utilize human ultrasonic hearing as
claimed by EarthPulse. Further examination of the headset revealed that
the piezoelements are virtually identical to the piezoelements from
Radio Shack part no. 273-073 which have a stated frequency response of
1500-3000 hz.
So, in all probability even if the Neurophone did utilize ultrasonic
frequencies (which it doesn't), this headset would not be capable of
delivering the stated ultrasonic frequencies in the first place.
The long and short of it is that anyone who spends $ 695.00 for a
Neurophone is being cheated by a bunch of high-tech snake oil salesmen
and since you have an Internet site dedicated to the advancement of
science, I thought you might be in a position to get the word out.
Please disseminate this information as widely as possible.
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Hi ******!
Thanks for the information....I have one of the Mark 11 units and was
extremely disappointed with its operation. This is the unit that used
to sell for $1000.00 and which a fellow sent me after advertising that
he had several to sell for I believe $300.00 from the estate of his late
father-in-law.
The device was nothing like the reports I had read over the years,
rather badly built too with the circuit not even mounted inside. It
does transmit acoustic signals over the skin but it won't work from your
foot to your ear nor is there remotely an ultrasonic component that I
could detect.
If you hold the Mark 11 electrodes on your face or neck or shoulders you
can hear something but it is more like slapping the skin at an audio
rate to produce sound, done by the high voltage pulses at audio
frequencies. (should be called electrostatic hearing)
One fellow says he got one of the Thinkman versions directly from
Flanagan and that it works beautifully, and I know this guy as being
very honest and truthful so I certainly don't doubt his word. I have
not experienced the Thinkman directly but the Mark 11 reputation is
highly imaginary.
I remember a couple of years ago there was some outfit selling a
'Grokbox' which claimed to do the same thing as the Thinkman for about
$100.00. They were here and gone in a flash and I never heard of anyone
being happy with their purchase.
I would think you should return it and get your money back, that's what
I would do, after all $700 is nothing to sneeze at. Here is the
archived info I have about the Grokbox;
http://www.keelynet.com/grok1.htm
But I do want to thank you for sharing your experience with the device.
I don't know if the version they are selling is the original Thinkman
but I was thinking they were distributors of the real thing. I checked
out the site at;
and it does appear to be THE Thinkman so it is one of Flanagans.
Now Flanagan claims you must 'train' yourself to hear the subtler side
of the Neurophone/Thinkman device by listening to the audio of your
source along with the Neurophone version. Then you gradually wean
yourself from the audio by reducing the volume yet leaving the
Neurophone signal cranked up.
The idea is a kind of biofeedback where your brain will learn to
recognize and translate signals from the Neurophone source. I find no
fault with that logic and it does imply that it will take some variable
period of time to learn or train your brain to do that. After all, it
is analougous to physical training and biofeedback principles.
At any rate, thanks for the input and I will post it to the interact
list and for sure, send it back and get a refund, that is too much money
to just give away for something you are unhappy with. Seeya!
---
Jerry Wayne Decker / jdecker@keelynet.com
http://keelynet.com / "From an Art to a Science"
Voice : (214) 324-8741 / FAX : (214) 324-3501
KeelyNet - PO BOX 870716 - Mesquite - Republic of Texas - 75187