A couple of weeks ago I had to get an MRI scan of my head because of my frequent headaches. I wasn’t so much worried about the results as curious about the procedure because I’ve studied MRI and other medical imaging technology at university in theory and was interested in seeing an MRI scanner in real life. As it turns out, I was right, and everything is perfectly fine inside my head (I can now prove that I’ve got a brain!), and the scan was an interesting experience.

I was told beforehand that it was going to be very, very loud inside the scanner, so I was prepared for it to be very, very loud. Fortunately, I was given ear muffs, and the noise wasn’t really that bad. I had heard it being described as loud knocking or banging sounds, but found that it didn’t sound like knocking at all. It rather sounded like an electronic beat or an electronic bass guitar and reminded me of the beginning of this song by Bily Joel, which is among my favourites since I played it in our highschool Big Band. (In that version, I actually played the bass part on the piano, so I know it very well.)

All of this is just a long-winded introduction to this link: What does an MRI scanner sound like? which I found over at LaLaGirl today. You can listen to MRI sounds there without actually having to go into a scanner. Just imagine the sounds to be quite a bit louder and all around you.

P.S.: I had tickets to a Billy Joel and Elton John concert when they did their “Face 2 Face” tour in Germany. Unfortunately, Billy Joel had an inflammation of the vocal chords and was unable to perform, so Elton did the show all by himself. Since then I’ve been hoping that they will be doing another concert together somewhere in Germany. I hear there’s another tour scheduled for 2009, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

P.P.S.: auf Deutsch gibt es natürlich auch eine Seite bei Wikipedia zur Magnetresonanztomographie bzw. Kernspintomographie: MRT.