Blind people allowed digital sight via their tongue

Fighting Irish · 17-08-2009 04:55PM #1

Sometimes science and technology amaze the hell out of me. This invention has made it possible for blind people to see a monotone digital image via a sensor placed on their tongue wired to a digital camera.

"The next step is FDA approval, which is expected by year's end, meaning that the BrainPort could arrive as early as 2010. There is a steep entry fee though, with prices expected to begin at $10,000, but the very fact you'll be able to buy it is a milestone in our book."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNkw28fz9u0

http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/14/brainport-lets-you-see-with-your-tongue-might-actually-make-it/#continued

ps let us use the god damn [img] tags :rolleyes:

Big Knox · 17-08-2009 04:58PM

Amazing.... this will really make giving head a whole new experience!!

AlmightyCushion · 17-08-2009 04:58PM

That's pretty cool. It would probably feel a little weird though.

ChocolateSauce · 17-08-2009 05:00PM

I'll make sure not to be offended if I see a blind person sticking their tongue out at me.

Yay science!

Cookie_Monster · 17-08-2009 05:00PM

If sighted people close their eyes will it work?

Pygmalion · 17-08-2009 05:00PM

So you have to walk around open mouth with your tongue sticking out?
Nice one.

Long Onion · 17-08-2009 05:02PM

Meh,

Geordie could see with a hair clip and that was 15 years ago.

Gone Drinking · 17-08-2009 05:02PM

Pygmalion wrote: »

So you have to walk around open mouth with your tongue sticking out?
Nice one.

They should call it "The Guide Dog"

javaboy · 17-08-2009 05:03PM

What's cool about that is that you know it's only the tip of the iceberg. Give them a few years.

AlmightyCushion · 17-08-2009 05:04PM

Pygmalion wrote: »

So you have to walk around open mouth with your tongue sticking out?
Nice one.

No. I think the thing on your tongue is just to transfer what's on the camera to your head. So you can have your mouth closed. You might talk funny though.

Gone Drinking · 17-08-2009 05:06PM

javaboy wrote: »

What's cool about that is that you know it's only the tip of the iceberg. Give them a few years.

It'll be an app on your phone before you know it!

Long Onion · 17-08-2009 05:07PM

If you looked in a mirror, would you see that you look like a cross between a welsh miner, a 60's surgeon and a borg?

pwd · 17-08-2009 05:08PM

That's really interesting.
I wonder what happens if a person with full sight uses one of them, with the camera pointing a different direction than they are looking.

AlmightyCushion · 17-08-2009 05:10PM

pwd wrote: »

That's really interesting.
I wonder what happens if a person with full sight uses one of them, with the camera pointing a different direction than they are looking.

I'd actually love to know that.

Fighting Irish · 17-08-2009 05:30PM

Pygmalion wrote: »

So you have to walk around open mouth with your tongue sticking out?
Nice one.

i don't think so, but even if you did....looking like a plonk>walking into a pole

Poor Uncle Tom · 17-08-2009 05:36PM

So it's gone from 'speaking in tongues' to 'seeing with tongues'..

ejmaztec · 17-08-2009 05:43PM

I don't know about this, it all seems a bit tongue in cheek..................

netwhizkid · 17-08-2009 05:48PM

I was in CeBIT in Germany during March and they had some pretty cool technology for people with disabilities, the most amazing (although not very new) was optical tracking wheas when you sit in front of the pc and have an integrated camera on the screen and allows really badly disabled people who cannot speak and have use of their eyes as their only sensory communication tool.

I was so impressed seeing the demonstration videos and using it myself the way it could change their lives by allowing them to both communicate with the outside world and talk to people by quickly typing (by looking at a, b, c etc), and forming a word and with T9 (predictive text) they can type very fast even though they have only the use of their eyes and nothing else.

It is a Swedish company and the specialist PC costs like €15,000 but is given to those who need for free (in Sweden) by the Swedish Health service.

tara666 · 17-08-2009 07:30PM

what happens if they have a fit and swallow their tongue?:p

lostexpectation · 17-08-2009 07:39PM

what does he see?

dr.bollocko · 17-08-2009 07:46PM

I'm off to find a blind chick with few morals.

Blind people allowed digital sight via their tongue

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