In this world full of colors, isn’t it annoying not being able to see?
The most beautiful thing in this world is to see what it gives us, what nature provides, to see a person smile, laugh, and feel emotions. But what about people who can’t see, don’t they have an urge to see the beautiful colors? What if someday their life changes forever. They could see what’s around them. The unique opportunity provided to them could make them feel the moments of joy that they have never experienced before.
The advancement in technology has made it possible: a device that can make people see via their tongue.
To be precise, BrainPort, a device which helps visually impaired people in sensing their surroundings with the help of their tongue. It works in such a way where the sensory code is sent to the brain through an electric signal via their tongue. This device was developed in the 1960s by Paul Bach-y-Rita, a neuroscientist who gave the theory that “we see with our brains not our eyes”. The chief objective of this theory propounded was to aid people’s blindness so that they could experience the world they live in.
In 2015, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave permission to Wicab to sell its product. Wicab was a company founded by Bach-y-Rita. The name of the device was BrainPort V100, this device’s function was to process the visual information being transported from the glasses to the tongue.
The device was tested many times, and its studies showed that 69 percent of the people were able to analyze what’s in their surroundings which proved the discovery of BrainPort a success. But the device is expensive as it costs about $10,000.
The BrainPort is a pair of dark glasses which support a tiny video camera and when the camera analyzes the visual stimuli, the software attached converts those signals from those artificial pulses and the tongue receives a vibration. The video camera is 1.5 centimeters in diameter that is places at the center on the pair of sunglasses. The camera’s resolution is reduced to a gird with four hundred grey-scale pixels. Still the picture seen by the one using it is blurry.
