Doctors would normally fix a tremor like Roger Frisch’s by keeping him awake during surgery, inserting electrodes deep into his brain until the trembling appeared to stop. But for a concert violinist, even the slightest remaining tremor would mean the end of the career, so in 2009 doctors at the Mayo Clinic designed a special violin for Frisch to play through his surgery. An accelerometer at the tip of the bow measured Frisch’s trembling, allowing doctors to fine-tune the placement of their electrodes.
Watch a violinist play through his brain surgery
Doctors used sensors on his bow to measure tremors
Doctors used sensors on his bow to measure tremors
is an investigations editor and feature writer covering technology and the people who make, use, and are affected by it. Since joining The Verge in 2014, he has won a Loeb Award for feature writing, among others.
The surgery worked, and the Mayo Clinic has released a follow-up interview with Frisch and his doctors. By turning on a battery and sending a current into his brain, Frisch can now switch off his tremors whenever he needs to play.
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