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ICcode for "Sensory deprivation"

[b]Sensory deprivation[/b] is the practice of temporarily 'removing
from' or depriving someone from making uses of one or more of the senses.



[heading]Sight Deprivation

This is easily achieved with an effective
[about=blindfold]blindfold[/about].  People usually rely on sight more
than any other sense, and depriving them of it for more than a few
minutes can have a powerful effect.


[heading]Sound Deprivation


It can be hard to make sure that someone can hear nothing at all,
however well their ears are insulated.  [about=Ear plug]Ear
plug[/about]s and [about=isolation hood]isolation hood[/about]s are
useful, but rarely 100% effective.  A common ploy to get around this is
to do what is practicable to block out sound and also make them hear a
noise that will overshadow anything else and that their mind will
largely ignore after a time.  This is most easily done with a pair of
headphones connected to a sound source.

The sound source is most effective if using a bland sound, which need
not be played loudly.  Various sounds can be played from a recording or
created from equipment, some of which may be around the home already.
The [about=Wikipedia]Wikipedia[/about] has an article on
[about=Wikipedia:Colours of noise]Colours of noise (technical)[/about].


[item][b]White Noise[/b]
:This is like a very uniform hissing sound. White noise is a random
signal with a flat power spectral density. In other words, the signal's
power spectral density has equal power in any band, at any centre
frequency, having a given bandwidth. Turn on an amplifier without any
input from radio, CD, etc. and crank the volume way up - chances are
that you'll hear something close to white noise.


[item][b]Pink Noise[/b]
:Pink noise is a variant of white noise.  A fairly close approximation
is the sound of continuously falling rain onto various hard surfaces.
Pink noise is white noise that has been filtered to reduce the volume at
each octave. This is done to compensate for the increase in the number
of frequencies per octave. Each octave is reduced by 6 decibels,
resulting in a noise sound wave that has equal energy at every octave.
Some hi-fi graphic equalisers will generate pink noise in a test mode. 
Also, some 5:1 or 7:1 sound systems will do so as an aid to adjusting
the sound levels across the various speakers.


[item][b]Brown Noise[/b]
:So called because it is supposedly the equivalent of listening to
Brownian motion. Brown noise is similar to pink noise, but with a power
density decrease of 6 dB per octave with increasing frequency (density
proportional to 1/f2) over a frequency range which does not include DC.
 Also known as "random walk" or "drunkard's walk" noise. An
approximation of brown noise can come from a radio or television
receiver that is off-station. Brown noise is not to be confused with the
[about=Wikipedia:Brown note]brown note[/about].


[item][b]Mains hum[/b]
:Most people have heard mains hum - it is a noise often associated with
faulty electrical equipment.  It has a frequency of 50 Hz in most of
Europe and 60 Hz in North America.


[heading]Aftercare and safety


Though sensory deprivation has been shown to have some therapeutic
benefit if applied over a short time, long-term sensory deprivation is
very dangerous and is considered to be
[about=Wikipedia:Torture]torture[/about] by most human rights groups.
Therefore, it is strongly advised that any session involving a high
level of sensory deprivation be limited to no more than one hour. Also,
it is doubly important that the
[about=dom]dom[/about]/[about=domme]domme[/about] be conscious of the
mental state of their [about=sub]sub[/about].

One way to offset the danger is to practice partial rather than total
sensory deprivation. For example, the use of a blindfold alone, even
over long periods of time, will not usually cause mental distress.
However, care must still be taken as, left to their own devices, a
blindfolded sub can easily become disoriented and injure him or herself.

Naturally, all safety guidelines pertaining to suffocation, nerve
damage, circulation, and so on should be followed as well. See
[about=Bondage: Safety]Bondage: Safety[/about] and [about=Breath
control: Safety]Breath control: Safety[/about].


[heading]See also



[item] [about=Blindfold]Blindfold[/about]

[item] [about=Isolation hood]Isolation hood[/about]

[item] [about=Ear plug]Ear plug[/about]s


[heading]External Links



[item]
[url=http://www.bondage-guide.net/post/sensory-deprivation.html]www.bondage-guide.net[/url]:
Short article on sensory deprivation.



(This entry in the BDSM Dictionary incorporates text from the
[url=http://www.londonfetishscene.com/wipi/index.php/Sensory_deprivation]Sensory
deprivation[/url] article in Wipipedia.)
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