What is the BrainPort vision device?

The BrainPort vision device is an investigational non-surgical assistive visual prosthetic

device that translates information from a digital video camera to your tongue, through
gentle electrical stimulation.

How is the BrainPort vision device related to the Tongue Display Unit (TDU)?

The TDU is the first prototype of the technology that has evolved into today's BrainPort
vision device.

Who could benefit from the BrainPort vision device?

The current investigational prototype works best for individuals who are blind and have
no better than light perception. Since we do not stimulate the eye or optic nerve, our
technology has the potential to work across a wide range of visual impairments. We are
actively developing device modifications to address the needs for those with low vision
such as macular degeneration.

How does the BrainPort vision device work?

The BrainPort vision system consists of a postage-stamp-size electrode array for the top
surface of the tongue (the tongue array), a base unit, a digital video camera, and a hand-
held controller for zoom and contrast inversion. Visual information is collected from the
user-adjustable head-mounted camera (FOV range 3–90 degrees) and sent to the
BrainPort base unit. The base unit translates the visual information into an stimulation
pattern that is displayed on the tongue. The tactile image is created by presenting white
pixels from the camera as strong stimulation, black pixels as no stimulation, and gray
levels as medium levels of stimulation, with the ability to invert contrast when
appropriate. Users often report the sensation as pictures that are painted on the tongue
with Champagne bubbles.

With the current system (arrays containing 100 to 600+ electrodes), study participants
have been able to recognize high-contrast objects, their location, movement, and some
aspects of perspective and depth. Trained blind participants use information from the
tongue display to augment understanding of the environment. Our ongoing research with
the BrainPort vision device demonstrates the great potential of tactile vision
augmentation and we believe that these findings warrant further exploration. As a result,
we are currently working on improvements to the tongue display hardware, software, and
usability, and on overall device miniaturization.

What is the resolution of the display?

The images below demonstrate how information from the video camera is represented on
the tongue. Today's prototypes have 400 to 600 points of information on a ~3cm x 3cm
tongue display, presented at approximately 30 frames per second, yielding an information
rich image stream. Our research suggests that the tongue is capable of resolving much
higher resolution information and we are currently working to develop the optimal tongue
display hardware and software.

Original 100 points 625 points 3600 points

Static

Dynami
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How long does it take to learn?

Our current research studies involve participation between 2-10 hours*. Within minutes
of introduction, users may understand where in space stimulation arises (up, down, left
and right) and the direction of movement. Within an hour of practice, users can generally
identify and reach for nearby objects, and point to and estimate the distance of objects out
of reach. With additional training, subjects can identify letters and numbers and
can recognize landmark information when using the device in a mobile scenario.

Will I experience vision similar to what I once had?

After a few hours of training, some users have described the experience as resembling a
low-resolution version of the vision they once had. In addition, neuroimaging research
suggests that for blind individuals, visual regions of the brain are activated while using
the BrainPort vision device. Ultimately, the experience is uniquely individual. However,
the resulting perception does not need to "feel" like eye-based vision in order to provide
assistive benefit.
Can Electrical Stimulation Hurt My Tongue?

You can adjust the intensity of the stimulation to your comfort level. Participants have
reported that the impulses feel like champagne bubbles effervescing on their tongue.

How can I obtain the BrainPort vision device?

The BrainPort vision device is an investigational prototype and is not yet for sale in the
US or abroad. Wicab plans to develop an assistive device suitable for commercial
introduction in the near future. In the meantime, the prototype BrainPort vision device is
being used in research studies across the country to measure perceptual enhancement
resulting from BrainPort vision device use*.

Are there research studies that I may be eligible to participate?*

A number of academic and research institutions have had or will have studies using the
BrainPort vision device with specific participation requirements. Please contact us for
more information. If you are a research institution and would like to conduct research
with the BrainPort vision device, please contact us for options regarding collaboration.

British soldier Craig Lundberg came in March 2007 during a grenade explosion in
Iraq’s Basra on sight. Now began for the basic orientation in space instead of eye
use language. It allowed him to proprietary technology using language as a mediator
between the camcorder and brain.
 BrainPort system developed by the U.S. firm
Wicab. The glasses are placed in a small video camera, from which the signal is
transmitted to the flat plate the size of a postage stamp, the user puts on the tongue.

Plate bears the active matrix of points that stimulate a weak electrical signal cells on the
tongue. Their spatial arrangement while cameras captured the scene. The points actually
fulfilling the role of image pixels to digital photography, but is instead one eye sees the
surface of language. The brain is capable of so adopted to reconstruct the image signal.

The method is surprisingly effective. Lundberg even recognize the capital letters on the
test board by an eye doctor. Reading books, of course, but nowhere near enough. “I felt
the language that the first letter is A. It was amazing. Then I went down the hall and I
could tell the door, walls and people who went against me,” said Lundberg British
newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

Electrical signals on the tongue apparently

most of all resemble a roaring sip champagne with bubbles of carbon dioxide. Signal is
not only a binary (light / dark), is able to convey the degree of gray, that distinguishes the
signal strength in each points.

Currently, the area bears the plate 3×3 inches 600 points, sending an electrical signal, so
the resulting “picture” is very rude. The signal changes very quickly, and thirty times per
second, so it is able to convey the moving objects.

BrainPort is the equivalent of nearly 300 thousand crowns. If proven, could help to
further blind. It does not use the optic nerve, so its use is entirely independent of the
nature of visual impairment. Not everyone is expected to be able to learn to “read” the
language of the electrical signals so well that he BrainPort in the orientation actually
helped.

Photo: Wicab, profimedia.cz

Source:tyden.cz