Media outlets -- from CNN, NY1 and Fox 5 to Scientific American -- have been abuzz with news about Lighthouse International and BrainPort®, an exciting new technology that uses an unexpected proxy for the eye -- the tongue. The Lighthouse is one of three leading research centers nationwide testing BrainPort®'s effectiveness in helping people who are blind perform everyday activities and orient themselves in space.
Dr. William Seiple left, and research participant, Albert Rizzi, test number recognition using BrainPort
"Researching ground-breaking technology like BrainPort®, designed to improve the quality of life for people who are visually impaired, lies at the core of our mission," says William Seiple, PhD, our Vice President for Research and Director of the Arlene R. Gordon Research Institute.
Ushering in an unprecedented opportunity to help people without sight "see," BrainPort® bypasses the eye's traditional pathway where light signals from the retina are transmitted via optic nerves to the brain's visual cortex.
How Does BrainPort® Work?
The BrainPort® system consists of three inter-connected components:
· sunglasses mounted with a small (1.5 centimeters) digital video camera
· a hand-held central processing unit (CPU) the size of a cell phone
· a mouthpiece sensor of electrodes (not much larger than a postage stamp) that sits on the surface of tongue
The video camera captures visual images in front of a person wearing the frames and transmits them via digital signals to the CPU. The CPU pixilates and converts the signals into electrical pulses, and then sends them to the "lollipop" mouthpiece. The tongue's highly sensitive nerves, in turn, send the information to the brain, which reconstructs the image, bypassing the retina altogether.
Albert navigates his way through Lighthouse hallways, with the help of both his guide dog and BrainPort.
Developed by neuroscientists, BrainPort® enables people to identify letters and numbers, locate and differentiate objects -- and navigate their way through space with confidence. The CPU can boost the intensity of pulses, zoom in or out, and increase the contrast of objects, making them easier to sense.
Feeling Is Seeing!
Dr. Seiple is training study participants to use the prototype so they can begin correlating the sensations -- which feel like pictures being drawn on the tongue by carbonated bubbles -- with outlines and shapes. Remarkably, people can begin interpreting spatial information within the first 15 minutes of learning how to use the device.
Dr. Seiple reports that it takes a minimum of 10 hours to train someone to adapt to, and become adept with, BrainPort®, but all have rapidly learned how to read letters and numbers, locate doorways and elevator buttons, and differentiate items on a placemat -- and all are awed by what they "see!"
BrainPort® holds the potential to be dramatically life-altering, to say the least. One participant in Dr. Seiple's study, Nihal Erkan, age 26 and blind since she was seven, declared, "When I first tried this device, I said, 'Wait a minute, I can recognize shapes! That was incredible! I was shocked because I could experience so much more than I thought I ever would."
The Lighthouse will ultimately train 15 people to use the new technology, including several research subjects who are blind from birth. According to Dr. Seiple, "The best candidates are people who are mobile and not afraid of their blindness. Nihal charges ahead! She took to this device so easily and was so enthusiastic, we actually needed to slow her down to improve her precision."
Training begins by helping users do small tasks, like identify and pick up large objects with different shapes -- cubes, cones or spheres -- and gradually increases in complexity to reading letters, followed by navigating around rooms and hallways.
Eliminating Boundaries
Albert Rizzi, age 45, who lost his vision three years ago, appreciates how helpful BrainPort® can be at mealtimes. "One thing that drives me crazy as a person who is blind is the possibility of knocking something over," he says. With the help of BrainPort®, Albert can now locate objects on a table without hitting something else inadvertantly; Nihal, too, has been able to differentiate between a spoon and a fork.
Albert also describes how well this device helped him get around without his guide dog. He explains, "When the hallway ended, the stimulus on my tongue stopped. I was amazed that I could walk down the hall so comfortably. It's great to move through a room without fear of bumping into things."
Dr. Seiple is evaluating the effectiveness of BrainPort®, including how long it takes users to complete tasks, the number of their correct responses in identifying objects, their acuity in identifying a range of objects and sizes, the effectiveness of contrast recognition and how well subjects navigate through an "obstacle course" set up in the hallway, as well as the demonstration kitchen at the Lighthouse. In addition, Nihal and Albert will take the device home to see how well it works outside a controlled lab setting.
BrainPort® is in its infancy and has not yet been approved by the FDA, but the manufacturer, Wicab, Inc., hopes to bring the device to market by the end of this year. And while its potential is extraordinary, it's currently intended to be an assistive device that augments, rather than replaces, other mobility aids like a guide dog or white cane. With additional development, "there may be no limit to what this new technology can do," says Dr. Seiple.
Nihal was thinking the very same thing. She doesn't have children yet, but she's been imagining how BrainPort® could alter that experience by enabling her to teach them to read and write before they go to school. And Albert says, "I'd love to use it to drive a car, or just to play cards with my nieces and nephews without their cheating! This technology lets you see the hope." That's what we want for everyone.
