National Geographic and NBC's The Today Show
/After being interviewed by Matt Lauer on the Today Show on October 19, 2007, Steven Tyler and Dr. Steven Zeitels were featured on Sunday, October 21, on the National Geographic Channel (NGC), which presented the "Incredible Human Machine," This two-hour documentary is a journey through an ordinary and extraordinary day-in-the-life of the human machine. With stunning high-definition footage, radical scientific advances and powerful firsthand accounts, Incredible Human Machine plunged deep into the routine marvels of the human body.
Striking feats of medical advancements are demonstrated, including Dr. Zeitels' digitally-recorded laser surgery on Steven Tyler and real-time measurement of the rocker's vocal cords during a live concert. Aerosmith's lead singer Steven Tyler opens wide and gives us an intimate endoscopic look at how his famous pair of vocal cords holds up to the trauma of singing his signature song, "Dream On."
After vocal damage forced him to cancel part of the band's tour, a pioneering laser method of "zapping" the damaged blood vessels with a pulsed KTP laser allowed Tyler to start singing again. The real-time monitoring of Tyler's voice during the live concert was accomplished with new technology developed by a research team led by Dr. Hillman. These measurements reflected the tremendous strain that Tyler places on his vocal system during a performance, often exceeding 110 decibels in loudness, with his vocal cords colliding more than 750,000 times during the 90 minute concert.