ICC student symposium 2012 at the AUC.
...
19
May 2012
22:31
Blind man sees with his tongue... no really.
April 9, 2010
Blind man sees with his tongue... no really.
Standard procedure after getting hit in the face with a rocket propelled grenade and losing your sight in Iraq, is to go on living life as a blind person. Lance Corporal Craig Lundberg, a 24 year-old soldier from Merseyside, was faced with this fate in 2007. Last month however, his life changed completely. He became an ideal candidate for the British Ministry of Defence, in their desire to test some revolutionary technology they call "BrainPort", in the hope of acquiring, something they call "lingual vision". The essence of lingual vision being that you can see what's around you with your tongue. No really.
So how exactly does seeing with your taste buds work? The BrainPort device is fundamentally a camera lodged in the user's glasses, which sends a signal to a device innovitavely called the "lollipop", on which the user sucks. The lollipop posseses hundreds of electrodes which stimulate the visual part of the brain as the images from the camera are turned into a series of electrical pulses, allowing the user to vaguely distinguish the shapes in front of him or her.
This truly is a breakthrough in contemporary technologies aimed at helping the blind. But so to what extent can the BrainPort be used? Lundberg described the sensation like this: "You get lines and shapes of things, it sees in black and white so you get a two dimensional image on your tongue, it's a bit like a pins and needles sensation". He was therefore able to identify shapes and objects, and also read a series of words. Lundberg also claimed licking the lollipop was similar to licking a nine volt battery... although the article sadly doesn't explain how Lundberg knows what licking a nine volt battery feels like. Of course this lingual vision is still in its beginning stages and the potential is clearly huge. Already, the BrainPort has fascilitated daily activities for Lundberg as he spoke about how picking up objects has become much easier, as well as spotting obstacles in the hallway.
Of course the current version of the lollipop isn't optimal yet as users are unable to speak or eat while using the device, so designers hope to diminish its size so that it could be permenantly fixed to the roof of the mouth enabling more natural use.
Whatever happens though, it has become apparent that the talk about this device has set tongues wagging. Do you see what I did there? Well thanks to BrainPort, Craig Lundberg may too some day.
Source:
BBC News: Blinded Merseyside soldier 'sees' with tongue device, March 13 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/8568485.stm
Comments
Hanelorre, realisticly speaking I don't t think this will be feasibly available for all blind people.... the article says it costs 18,000 pounds for device+training. So pretty pricey
How come you can only see outlines and not more...? Surely if the visual part of the brain is stimulated vision should be perfect... Maybe with more electrodes the image can be made clearer/more 3 dimensional?
Hardware devices inserted in people's brains already exist, Florian, they are most commonly used in people paralyzed from neck down, so that they can, for example, communicate by watching at certain letters and then a computer will generate the sound appropriate for that letter.
i don't quite understand how the electrodes work... how can they access the visual part of the brain? Can other parts of the body do the same thing then or not? xxxx
Laurens,
Not only am I wondering how can one eat with that, also how can you kiss a person when not sure who it is you are kissing? I mean one could easily let his friends pay him and stand in front of him while one gets the thing out of her mouth?
also, Does the licking of 9 volt batteries is something that could turn you on whilst kissing or is it so big that it is impossible to twirl arround?
what do you think about the matter?
Cool, but it still seems like a bit of a workaround to me. I don't know anything about this topic, but when do we get to hard-wire camera's into our brain? Still, every step in the right general direction is a step forward.
oh my god. it seems like every word in this text is chosen with care. everything works here. I think you will win the Pullitzer Price with it.
I think he would prefer the Pulitzer PriZe. See what I did there? I spelt it right!
Dear Laurens,
When you firstly send me this link, I was a bit sceptical whether it will really work out the way people want it to. For example, how feasible is it to have something in your mouth the whole time? Wouldn't that interfere with your eating? Will this contribute to worldwide anorexia? Do you want all blind people to starve to death? But then I realized, you probably don't, a lot of people have stuff in their mouth that can make them choke (if you know what I mean...). I'm positive about the endless posibilities of this tonguething, keep up the good work and keep me posted!
Kind regards,
Natas
I am so impressed by your level of English, do you think this technique will be available to all blind people? Anyway, my compliments on the text, interesting subject.
Great how you can deliver a very serious message with such a sense of humour, it is amazing, I am impressed. Bearing in mind the importance of enhancing a blind man's sight (see what i did there) and the necessity of making in accessible for a mixed audience, I think you performed outstanding.
I see what you did there
How big the potential? Do you think blind people will be able to see perfectly eventually?
Post new comment