A new device to help the blind see has been developed by

scientists. After a few days practicing people, who

otherwise couldn’t see, were able to make out shapes, read

signs and even read letters. This amazing new device may

help people to interact with their environment in ways

never before experiences. It has replaced the technology of

eye transplantation to some extent. The only we need is to

know how to communicate with world with this device.

2BRAIN PORT DEVICE

An electric lollipop that allows the blind to ‘see’ using their tongue has been developed by scientists.

The machine is called the Brain Port vision device and is manufactured by Wicab, a biomedical engineering Company.

It relies on sensory substitution, the process in which if one sense is damaged, the part of the brain that would normally control that sense can learn to perform another function.

About two million optic nerves are required to transmit visual signals from the retina the portion of the eye where light information is decoded or translated into nerve pulses to the brain’s primary visual cortex.

3BRAIN PORT DEVICE

WHY KNOWN AS TASTING DEVICE ?Other than normal use of tongue for tasting food, eating, talking there are also many other uses. One of them is for sensing of light. It is called as tasting because it can taste the light and sense the objects. It is this property which is used in brain port device.

The extraordinary tasting device converts images captured by a tiny camera into a series of electrical tingles, which can be felt on the tongue. The tingles are then sent to the brain through nerves which then converts the tingles into pictures. Nerves then send these messages to the brain, which turn the tingles back into pictures. The electric lollipop or Brain Port captures images using a tiny camera and then converts the image into tiny tingles on the tongue.

4BRAIN PORT DEVICE

With Brain Port, visual data are collected through a small digital video camera.

Camera on the forehead captures the image & video output is sent to a processor.

Processor translates output from camera into a pattern of electronic pulses replacing the mechanism of retina.

Besides processing we can adjust the zoom level, intensity of the image, shock intensity and can control the voltage level here

The processor convert the image information to electronic pulse and send it to electrode array

5BRAIN PORT DEVICE

Array of electrodes a little over an inch square, stimulate receptor cells on the surface of the tongue to the Brain i.e., Tactile or touch receptors on the tongue send impulses to the somatosensory cortex in response to stimulation.

Our tongue senses the signal just like it sense the taste of the food and send the signal to brain through nerves

Hence it can’t see what is around but can sense and understand the objects around it

6BRAIN PORT DEVICE

Camera: It a small digital video camera about 1.5 centimetres in diameter that sits in the center of a pair of sunglasses worn by the user.

Array of electrodes a little over an inch square stimulate receptor cells on the surface of the tongue to the Brain i.e., Tactile or touch receptors on the tongue send impulses to the somatosensory cortex in response to stimulation.

CPU: This unit houses such features as zoom control, light settings and shock intensity levels as well as a central processing unit (CPU), which converts the digital signal into electrical pulses replacing the function of the retina.

7BRAIN PORT DEVICE

Using the unique resources of the DOE national laboratories in materials sciences, micro fabrication, microelectrode construction, photochemistry and computer modelling, the project’s goal is to construct the device, capable of restoring vision, with materials that will last for the lifetime of a blind person. Just as blind people read words by touching Braille bumps, some are now able to “see” objects via a special lollipop that stimulates their taste buds.

8BRAIN PORT DEVICE