Blind British Soldier Regains Sight With His Tongue

In September, we briefly mentioned a new device that could return sight, in limited fashion, to blind patients through the use of an electrode covered "lollipop." The inch-long device is placed on the tongue and is fed electrical signals from a small camera hidden in a pair of sun glasses.

These small electrical impulses allow patients who have lost their sight to recognize simple shapes and letters, and to "see" basic gray-scale images. Lance Corporal Craig Lundberg, who lost his vision when struck by a rocket-propelled grenade while serving in Basra, has become the first British citizen and the first member of the armed services to get his mouth on the new device. With its help, Lundberg is able to navigate obstacles, and even read signs. Though the images produced are too low in resolution to allow him to pick up a novel, the ability to identify elevator buttons and bathroom signs is a welcome improvement.

The BrainPort, as it's called, is available at the rather steep cost of £10,000 (or about $15,097) and is still evolving. Hit up the source link to check out a video from the BBC of the revolutionary device in action. [From: BBC]

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Tags: accessibility, blind, brainport, britain, health, science, sight, top