The electronic device that allows blind people to 'see' using their tongue

A groundbreaking electronic device will allow blind people to 'see' using their tongues, scientists have claimed. The extraordinary technology takes pictures filmed by a tiny camera and turns the information into electrical pulses which can be felt on the tongue. Tests show that the nerves send messages to the brain which turn these tingles back into pictures. People using the device, which resembles a pair of sunglasses attached by cable to a plastic lollipop, say that with less than 20 hours training they can make out shapes and even read signs.


Scientists say learning to picture images felt on the tongue is similar to learning to ride a bicycle. The BrainPort vision device is expected to go on sale later this year. It collects visual data through a small digital video camera about one inch in diameter that sits in the middle of a pair of sunglasses worn by the user. This information is transmitted to a handheld control unit, which is about the size of a mobile phone. The unit converts the digital signal into electrical pulses and sends this to the tongue via the lollipop that sits on the tongue. The lollipop contains a square grid of 600 electrodes which pulse according to how much light is in that area of the picture. White pixels have a strong pulse while black pixels give no signal.

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