Experimental Protocol Human Subject Info Sign Up Report Your Results

Auditory Binding Experimental Protocol

Materials and Methods

  • A really good night's rest, preferably after several days of the same, so you can reenter a very light sleep again and again (sleepsurfing).

  • A quiet morning (or other normal rising time) environment for at least an hour, free of distractions and pressing concerns, phones turned off.

  • Patience (and an open mind) enough to make up to 5 separate attempts to detect AB.

  • Earplugs optional

For many people these experimental conditions will be impossible to meet. Most of us struggle to get enough sleep, a terrible shame to be so drained of the joy of living. Sleep is a great healer when done right but when abused we suffer greatly for it, probably much more than we even know. People so stressed will not likely be able to detect AB even if they had the time for it. People with young children, forget even trying. Maybe go on a nice quiet vacation to Hawaii and try it there.

Procedure

You'll listen for the characteristic sound of AB, under certain conditions, as your consciousness emerges from sleep. Detailed instructions will be emailed to you when you sign up as a first person researcher. There is no charge, nor is there any remuneration; it is purely voluntary. Your only obligations are to not divulge the instructions or anything about the nature of the AB sound to anyone until you are notified that the experiment has been fully completed, and to report your results on an online form after you do the experiment, whether or not you are able to detect AB.

Experimental data will be analyzed and reported at two endpoints (because it is unknown what percentage of people are able to detect AB). The first endpoint will be reached when 100 people complete the experiment and file their reports (the First X%); the second endpoint, when 100 people have experienced AB and reported their findings (the First Hundred), will conclude the experiment.

At the first endpoint, preliminary results will be made available to those 100 who've participated so far (with a continuing requirement for confidentiality about the sound of AB and how to detect it). Then when the First Hundred people to experience AB have submitted their reports, complete results (without identifying you) will be publicly posted here and you'll be informed by email. Your confidentiality agreement will then expire and your AB experiences will no longer need to remain confidential unless that is your desire.