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Helping the Blind See With Their Tongues

WRITTEN BY AJAYI OLUWAFEMI 
“Technology, for me, it’s giving something back to somebody who was taken out of humanity.” – Andy Fabino
What if we told you there are new innovations that can help about 285 million people around the world living with a visual impairment move around with a little more ease? 1
Okay, it’s easy enough to believe, but what if we told you the innovation works by using the surface of their tongues?
Image: Woman's face with brightly colored paint on it, indicating the new vision that this advanced technology will bring to peoples lives.
Source: Pixabay
Now here’s something that should be celebrated: there’s an increasing number of sensory-substitution devices being developed that use the brain in the most remarkable way. These devices take in visual information from the environment and translate it into forms of physical touch or sound in order to be interpreted by the user as vision.
If that’s not amazing enough, The New Yorker lets us in on yet another benefit:
“While these devices were designed with the goal of restoring lost sensation, in the past decade they have begun to revise our understanding of brain organization and development. The idea that underlies sensory substitution is a radical one: that the brain is capable of processing perceptual information in much the same way, no matter which organ delivers it.” 2
The brain is capable of so much more than we’ve ever imagined!
In a few moments, you’ll learn a bit more about just how the advanced technology of the BrainPort® V100 is helping the blind see with their tongues, and feel what kind of impact these new innovations can have on someone’s quality of life. Huge thanks to the talented director, Paul Hairston, of Acres for capturing the story of Andy Fabino, and sharing it with us.

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