Mysuru: The city-based premier All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH) is developing a museum called ‘Speech and Hearing museum’. The museum, which will be coming up in the shape of a face at the cost of nearly Rs six crore is going to be first of its kind in the world. The museum will be spreading over 11,000sqft and people can learn about brain and ear functions.
The proposed three-storey museum for speech and hearing, once completed will offer innovative ways of understanding the functioning of organs such as brain, ears, nose, tongue and vocal chords. Those who visit the museum will experience how we speak and hear.
In the basement of the museum, models explaining respiratory mechanism would be displayed. In the ground floor, the mechanism of larynx and disorders connected with it would be shown, on the first floor, information on speech and hearing and physiological disorders will be placed, in the second floor brain disorders will be explained while in the third floor people will learn about the functioning of the brains- left and right hemisphere.
Speaking to Newskarnataka.com, SR Savithri, Director of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, who is the brain behind the project said, “The purpose of the museum is educational or pedagogical and creating awareness to professionals and the public about general knowledge, working principles, preventive measures, and pathological / days-functional conditions in the area of communication and its disorders. The scientific museum will be in the shape of a human face. Basically, here in the building, one should be able to enter through the brain and come out of the lungs, larynx and the oral tract (mouth) experiencing how speech is produced and language is encoded and decided.”
“The floor of the museum will be fitted with sensors which will lead to the central nervous system through various cranial nerves and hence when one touches the sensor of a particular nerve end, it would be simulated, the sensor would glow and show the path leading to the end of the nerve. The ceiling will be fitted with audio-visuals depicting the functions of the brain. At each stage of the museum, it is planned to introduce communication disorders arising out of malfunctioning of any of the organs/ nerve/ nervous system concerned. It is also planned to introduce a section on the contribution of ancient India in the field of phonetics, linguistics etc. The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 5.21 crores. The work got started just one month ago and is expected to be completed in another ten months time” added Dr Savithri.
