A seminar on Addiction avoider

About half the people around the world are addicted to one or more

addictive substances. Addiction is one of the chronic disorders that are

characterized by the repeated use of substances or behaviors despite clear

evidence of morbidity secondary to such use. It is a combination of

genetic, biological/pharmacological and social factors. Example:

Overeating, Having sex, Gambling, Alcohol drinking, Taking Narcotic

Drugs and Certain Mannerisms. Surveys of 100 Texas drug treatment

programs revealed that 5-10 percent of the clients were addicted mainly to

prescription medications.

Purelatrogenic individuals use only the medications prescribed by their physician and take them exactly as prescribed. Iatrogenic pain avoiders have used on prescribed medications, but not as prescribed. In this project we are going to design a device that can entirely avoid addiction. The device Addiction Avoider is based upon the principle of controlling “Brain waves” The main concept of our project is to control the brain waves when the BETA waves go below the normal range of frequency. This device consists of an microcontroller which will generate an sound signal which stimulates the brain waves and bring the person to the normal condition and this device is capable of eliminating the addiction completely.

Before going on to details we are supposed to know the basic terms that this paper is based upon. These are the terms ‘The Brain’, ‘Brainwaves’ and ‘Addiction’.•The Brain: It is well known that brain is an electrochemical organ. The Brainwaves are produced by the temporal lobe of the brain. It processes auditory information from the ears and relates it to Wernicke's area of the parietal lobe and the motor cortex of the frontal lobe. The amygdale is located within the temporal lobe and controls social and sexual behavior and other emotions. The limbic system is important in emotional behavior and controlling movements.

Fig1. Side and top view of the human brain with parts

Brainwaves:

Electrical activity emanating from the brain is displayed in the form of brainwaves. There are four categories of these brainwaves, ranging from most activity to least activity.

The different brain waves are:1. Delta Waves2. Theta Waves3. Alpha Waves4. Beta Waves4.1.low beta waves4.2 high beta waves

S.

NO.

BRAINWAVES FREQUENCY

RANGE

(HERTZ)

1 Delta 0.5 - 4

2 Theta 5 - 8

3 Alpha 9 – 14

4 Low Beta 15 – 32

5 High Beta 32 - 40

TABLE 1: DIFFERENT BRAINWAVES AND ITS FREQUENCIES

ADDICTION

There are two types of addiction: Physical dependency and Psychological dependency.

A) Physical dependency : Physical dependence on a substance is defined by appearance of characteristic withdrawal symptoms when the drug is suddenly discontinued.

B) Psychological dependency: Psychological addictions are a dependency of the mind, and lead to psychological withdrawal symptoms.

1. The principle behind this device is ‘BINAURAL BEATS’.

2. Binaural beats are auditory processing artifacts.3. The frequency of tones will be 1000 to 1500Hz.4. The difference between frequencies must be

small

WORKING

The block diagram consists of the following parts whose operation is as below

SENSORS: The sensor sends the analog brainwave signal into the 851microcontroller.

AMPLIFIERS: The amplitude of analog brainwaves is in terms of 10 – 15 micro volts. But the Atmel 8515 microcontroller has an operating voltage of about 2.7V – 6.0V.

OSCILLATORS:

1. The oscillator designed that it produces a particular audio wave below

2. 1500Hz.3. The oscillator will be designed such that it has

10 – 13 Hz difference in frequency with oscillator 1.

4. This difference in frequency creates Binaural Beats. The binaural beats having a frequency of about 10-13 Hz creates a stimulus making the brain to move towards the stimulated frequency.

STEREO HEADPHONE:

By sending audio waves from one oscillator to one of the two sides of the headphone and another oscillator to another side of the headphone

MERITS:

1. The headband used is better to be an insulator such that the sensors touch the skin.

2. Less weight and portable.3. Cost effective.

DEMERITS:

Those meeting any of the following criteria/conditions should not use binaural beats:1. Pregnant women2. People susceptible to seizures3. Pacemaker usersv Photosensitive people

FUTURE WORK

Further research on binaural waves can be used to find a device for deaf and dumb.

It can also be used to study the resonance of brain during brain diseases

Addiction avoider is the safest and simplest device to use in prevention of Addiction.

It is used for any type of addiction like addiction caused by taking narcotic drugs or alcohol and simple addictions like overeating and mannerisms.