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Comment by sva_ | Hacker News Reader

I have never been in an MRI but I imagine with some good headphones and blindfolds it might be interesting.

It's *VERY* loud. You can't wear conventional headphones, you'll need non-magnetic headphones that are made specifically to be used during MRI scans. That means no active noise canceling features. The MRI is loud enough to be heard through the passive attenuation of headphones or earplugs, so you'll still hear the mechanical beat of the MRI underneath any music.

Oh you could make noise dampening and cancelling headphones for MRI with nonmagnetic piezo transducers. Ear canal earphones would help with it too by cutting the noise some 30 dB.

The problem is that the noise made by the machine is loud sounds comparable to an explosion or a gunshot. You can reduce it but never fully cancel it, and it's rather startling.

There are styles of headphones that are like an ear plug (to reduce noise by say 20db) that have a small tube running to the driver that is a long distance away. They’re these clear tubes with a coil you see on security guards and what not. The actual driver is somewhere else.

This could also be used. I think some in ear monitors are like to too.

When I was looking this is exactly how MRI headphones worked. Just with a much longer tube

Noise dampening? Yeah plenty exist. There's a hard limit of about 30db reduction passively unless you also plug your mouth, nostrils, and wear a helmet around your skull. But noise reduction/dampening does not mean the same thing as active noise canceling.

For ANC you need a microphone very close to the ear and some sort of chip to process that and apply it inversely to the speaker. There would just be too much delay if the sound waves have to make a round trip more than a few mm

And you will have a phase problem because of the delay of transmission. And the phase of the noise is not predictable that well (the RF that cause it is really precise, but the physical movement of the coils and everything around them is not).

I honestly don’t think it would be that bad. Let’s say your actually only in the machine for an hour or so during the height of your trip. To me, an MRI scan sounds almost like a deep house or techno beat. It might even be enjoyable. The worst MRI scans are ones done with contrast - having a thick needle in your arm really ruins the MRI experience for me.

can we design MRI scan with a programmed physical (movnig) noise absorbing panels so the sound actually becomes rhythmic or even jazz like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqpEQWRcQcw

Even better, match up the sound to a song with a similar BPM and create an analogue techno mashup set.

Doubtful. It’s not comfortable, you can’t move, and it’s extremely noisy to the point that no headphones would be able to drown out the mechanical sounds that would ruin a psychedelic experience

I dunno. I have to get MRIs regularly: Once a year for my central nervous system (I have MS, this is common) and once a year or so for my pancreas.

I don't mind at all. I have to stay alert for the pancreas since I have to hold my breath at one point, but all I do for the brain/spinal cord is lay still. The machine vibrates, headphones dull the sound, and sometimes there is music. I could sleep and I find the vibration kind of soothing - much like being in a car.

I kinda look forward to it, honestly.

I’m not saying that the MRI experience itself is unbearable. But have you ever done psychedelics? No sleeping/snoozing. Your mind is very, very active and it can be intense/emotional. The experience I’ve had with MRI and shrooms/LSD makes them seem very incompatible. Just my opinion though.

I don't know. Mushrooms make me want to stay as still as possible in whatever position I'm in, even if it's standing. Unless the person suffers from claustrophobia, I don't think it would be an unbearable experience.

It is possible to sort of sleep on psychs. I guess it's not quite sleep; it's more like a relaxed state of altered consciousness within the "normal" state of altered consciousness. I sometimes become alert again and realize I dozed off for a few minutes without losing track of time.

I've done more psychedelics than I remember. I know I've done LSD at least 35-40 times over the years, and it has been less than 3 months at this point. I'm over 40, by the way.

I can sit there with my eyes closed while on LSD. Same with mushrooms. Mushrooms are a bit more fun with that because of the visuals and patterns - I've spent some hours like this in a hotel in Amsterdam (truffles, obviously).

I already find an MRI relaxing - they give you a button in case anything goes wrong, after all, and they can put music in the headphones. I can definitely just relax there and I can definitely see how it would be pretty immersive. Plus, I'm pretty sure they aren't giving these folks contrast through an IV and that's really the bit I'd have some issues with.

MRI days = free rest days. So relaxing.

I mean, you go into it knowing you're high and doing this for a medical study, so the experience of the setting can be reframed by the right (mind)set. Duty and higher purpose do a lot to change one's mentalities.

Our participants fall asleep quite regularly. In fact, it's a well-known problem in MRI research.

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