Living with embodied vibrations: Sensory experiences following a traumatic brain injury.

Summary

Drawing on the author's own experience of traumatic brain injury, this article uses a (neuro)phenomenological approach to examine how sensory experiences—especially pain, vision, hearing, and bodily sensations during sleep—are intertwined with other TBI symptoms. The analysis enriches clinical concepts of sensitivity to light and noise, and sleep disturbance, by grounding them in lived experience. The article argues that these sensory phenomena can be understood through embodied dynamics of vibration, oscillation, and stochastic resonance. It suggests that a phenomenologically informed, sensory analysis of TBI experiences may offer new directions for research and clinical practice.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Based on autoethnography, this article adopts a (neuro)phenomenological lens to explore sensory experiences following a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Although focussing particularly on pain, vision, hearing, and somatic experiences connected with sleep, we also touch on how these are interwoven with other symptoms associated with TBIs. We use these experiences to enliven, and thereby enrich, clinical constructions and understandings of 'sensitivity' to light and to noise, as well as 'sleep disturbance'. We conclude with a discussion of how these sensory experiences can be understood in relation to embodied dynamics of vibration, oscillation, and (stochastic) resonance. The article closes with the suggestion that an embodied, sensorial, and phenomenologically informed analysis of the experiences of people with TBIs, particularly in relation, for example, to embodied sensations and perceptions of vibration, might provide novel insights for research and clinical practice.