Familiar sounds stimulate the brain:

Farm friends to the rescue

by Sumana Saparamadu

At the time this happened, way back in 2000, Mark Anderson was an 18-year-old student following a course in agriculture. He lived with his mother on a small farm, in a village in the county of Leeds in England.

One evening as he was returning home, he was hit on the head with a stone. In England in winter it gets dark very early. Someone hiding in the dark had hit him in anger or in fun. The stone hit him so hard that Mark fell unconscious.

Someone passing that way saw him and recognised Mark. He informed Mark's mother. She rushed there and saw her son lying stiff on the ground. With the help of a passer-by, she took Mark to hospital.

The stone had not only injured his head. It had also hit his cheek and his cheek-bone was broken. Mark lay stiff and unconscious. Even his heart seemed to have stopped. Immediate medical attention revived Mark. He started breathing. His heart was beating slowly. But Mark remained unconscious.

For two weeks he was lying on bed, in the same position he was kept on the first day in hospital.

He never opened his eyes nor did he show any sign that he was aware of what was happening around him or heard what was said by those by his bedside. The only sign of life was his breathing. The breath went in and out slowly.

Mark's mother was very sad. She looked lovingly at her son, her mind and heart full of fear - that Mark would be like this forever, a "living corpse."

Then one day the doctor spoke to his mother. He told her that if Mark hears familiar sounds it was possible that, the part of the brain that is dormant (not active) now, will be activated and Mark will regain consciousness.

"So is it possible to make Mark hear the sounds he is familiar with, sounds he has been hearing daily", asked the doctor.

"Yes," said the mother joyfully and with full of hope. She rushed home, got a tape recorder, took it to the farm and started recording the cries of the farm animals - the bleating of the sheep, mooing of cows and the barking of dogs.

She hurried back to hospital with the tape. The nurses brought the recorder to Mark's bedside and played the tape.

As Mark heard the familiar cries of the farm animals - sheep and calf bleating, cows mooing, dogs barking, he showed signs of consciousness, as if those sounds had stimulated his brain and woken the dormant part of the brain.

Slowly and steadily Mark became fully conscious.

It was as if some lock that had got stuck, came loose after a little oil was put in. The familiar sounds he heard were like oil.

That part of the brain which was "asleep," was working now. Gradually Mark became aware of what was happening around him.

It took a few months for Mark to recover fully.

"The animals on the farm saved my life," says Mark, his heart full of gratitude. "I don't know how I can repay my farm friends for what they did."