Deaf Men Helped Shape Nasa's Human Spaceflight Program

nasa.gov

61 points·curtis··6 comments

So basically they were deaf in a way that makes them immune to motion sickness, but has also required them to adapt to the loss of that sensory information on earth, so they were able to teach the rest of us how to adapt. So cool!

It sounds like they have no sense of balance, and use other cues instead, but the article doesn't seem to actually say that, sticking to "immune to motion sickness". Can anyone confirm my interpretation? Is there a medical name for this?

I think the key line is this:

These experiments help[ed] to improve understanding of how the body’s sensory systems work when the usual gravitational cues from the inner ear aren't available

In a zero gravity environment, you won't have reference from the inner ear. These volunteers also did not have that reference due to their spinal menigitis, so it allowed a way to observe how the body's sensory systems behave in such a scenario.

This is so awesome. Thanks for pointing out. I feel it’s easy to miss this info if you’ve never experienced deafness within Earth’s gravity.

Interesting! From the title I assumed they were put in situations where they had to operate near very loud equipment. Didn't realize deafness can sometimes be the result of meningitis and accompanies motion sickness immunity.

These sound like fascinating experiments to ethically learn about the limits of the human body.

One of my favorite parts was this:

"Another experiment, conducted in a ferry off the coast of Nova Scotia, tested the subjects’ reactions to the choppy seas. While the test subjects played cards and enjoyed one another's company, the researchers themselves were so overcome with sea sickness that the experiment had to be canceled."

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