[wordup] Sensory substitution

[Adam Shand]

From: http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/003806.php
Via: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/science/23sens.html

Seeing with your back or your tongue
By Regine on body

Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita, from the University of Wisconsin, has developed 
the BrainPort, a technology that allows one set of sensory information 
to substitute for another in the brain.

Using electronic aids, vision can be represented on the skin, tongue or 
through the ears. If the sense of touch is gone from one part of the 
body, it can be routed to an area where touch sensations are intact.

More than 30 years ago, Bach-y-Rita developed a device that routed 
visual images to electrodes taped to people's backs, allowing them to 
"see" large objects and flickering candles with their backs. He then 
found out that the tongue, sensitive and easy to reach, turned out to 
be an even better place to deliver substitute senses.

Sensory substitution technology may one day help millions of people 
overcome their sensory disabilities.

Erik Weihenmayer, blind since he was 13, recently tried the BrainPort, 
a hard hat carrying a small video camera. Visual information from the 
camera was translated into pulses that reached his tongue. He found 
doorways, caught balls rolling toward him, etc. for the first time in 
more than 20 years.

The government has shown interest in sensory substitution technology. 
For example, the Navy is exploring the use of a tongue device to help 
divers find their way in dark waters at night.

But the tongue unit have also been tried out in a video game that 
involved shooting villains. "In two minutes you stop feeling the buzz 
on your tongue and get a visual representation of the bad guy," 
explains the researcher. "You feel like you have X-ray vision. 
Unfortunately it makes the game boring."