[optacon-l] Re: Seeing with your tongue.
- From: Gailselfridge@xxxxxxx
- To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 6 Jun 2009 21:50:40 EDT
I tried a tooth guard and also threw it away so I can tell you what it is.
It's a thing that fits over your bottom teeth so that you can't grind your
teeth in your sleep. They also use it for other teeth and jaw related
things but that's what mine was for. I couldn't stand it and although they
said
I'd get used to it, I didn't and couldn't sleep with it in my mouth.
Gail
What on earth is a "tooth guard" pray tell, an ignorant redneck from the
Redneck Riviera wants--perhaps needs to know? (grin)
Nick
----- Original Message -----
From: <_Gailselfridge@xxxxxxxx (mailto:Gailselfridge@xxxxxxx) >
To: <_optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) >
Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 8:28 PM
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Seeing with your tongue.
> I'd try it, but I'm doubtful. First I agree that I don't think I'd like
> the
> sensation on my tongue. Second, it would depend on how much sight you'd
> get. Would it be worth it? Just to be able to see where objects were
well
> enough to pick them up, that wouldn't be enough for me. Now if I could
> read
> print again or have any distance vision, that might be worth it.
Thirdly,
> how
> expensive would this thing be? Could any of us ever afford it? Probably
> not.
>
> Gail
>
> I agree with Cindy. I tried a tooth guard and threw it away. I don't
> think
> I would like the sensation either. God bless you, Effie
> God bless you,
> Effie
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cindy Handel" <__cindy425@xxxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:_cindy425@xxxxxxxxxxx) _
> (_mailto:cindy425@xxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:cindy425@xxxxxxxxxxx) )
>>
> To: <__optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:_optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) _
(_mailto:optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) ) >
> Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 4:41 PM
> Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Seeing with your tongue.
>>I thought about how it would feel. I'm not sure I'd like the sensation
>>on
>> my tongue.
>>
>> Cindy
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Sharon Lash" <__slash591@xxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:_slash591@xxxxxxxxxx) _ (_mailto:slash591@xxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:slash591@xxxxxxxxxx) ) >
>> To: <__optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:_optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) _
(_mailto:optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) ) >
>> Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 5:28 PM
>> Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Seeing with your tongue.
>>
>>
>> Wow! What a magnificent article. I would love to get a hold of that
>> device!
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "H & C Arnold" <__4carolyna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:_4carolyna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) _
> (_mailto:4carolyna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:4carolyna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) ) >
>> To: <__optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:_optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) _
(_mailto:optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) ) >
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 9:14 AM
>> Subject: [optacon-l] Seeing with your tongue.
>>
>>
>>> Seeing with your tongue.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> By RON SEELY, 608-252-6131, __rseely@xxxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:_rseely@xxxxxxxxxxx) _
> (_mailto:rseely@xxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:rseely@xxxxxxxxxxx) )
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Roger Behm lost his sight at 16, the victim of an inherited
>>>>>>> disease
>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>> destroyed his retinas. Both of his eyes were surgically removed.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Now 55, Behm has made himself at home in a sightless world. He
>>>>>>> started
>>>>>>> his own
>>>>>>> business in Janesville selling devices that help the blind cope
> with
>>>>>>> day-to-day tasks. He and his wife have raised five children and
>>>>>>> just
>>>>>>> adopted another child from China who is also blind. He fishes,
>>>>>>> canoes,
>>>>>>> camps and scuba dives.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> But Behm can remember seeing. Which is why he couldn't believe it
>>>>>>> when,
>>>>>>> three
>>>>>>> years ago, he slipped a device over his head, turned it on, and
>>>>>>> was
>>>>>>> once
>>>>>>> again
>>>>>>> able to discern light and dark, shapes and shadows, letters and
>>>>>>> numbers,
>>>>>>> and even a rolling golf ball.
>>>>>>> "I could look down and and see the ball, white on black, and I
> could
>>>>>>> see myself
>>>>>>> swinging my putter," Behm said. "And, of course, I missed. But I
>>>>>>> could
>>>>>>> reach
>>>>>>> down and pick up my ball, like any other sighted person."
>>>>>>> The device is called BrainPort and, though it seems like a gadget
>>>>>>> from
>>>>>>> Star Trek, it may be available commercially by the end of the
>>>>>>> year.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It works by converting images from a video camera to electrical
>>>>>>> impulses
>>>>>>> that are transmitted via the tongue to the brain of the blind
>>>>>>> person
>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>> turned again
>>>>>>> into black-and-white images that the user sees.
>>>>>>> It takes advantage of groundbreaking work by a UW-Madison
> scientist
>>>>>>> that showed
>>>>>>> the brain will reprogram itself to accept and use different
>>>>>>> sensory
>>>>>>> signals - in
>>>>>>> this case touch instead of sight - to replace signals that can no
>>>>>>> longer
>>>>>>> be received due to injury or disease.
>>>>>>> The device, which consists of a miniature camera mounted on a pair
> of
>>>>>>> sunglasses, a tongue sensor and a small control unit, was
>>>>>>> developed
>>>>>>> by
>>>>>>> Wicab of Middleton. It builds on another of the company's
devices
>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>> uses the same underlying ideas to help restore users' balance.
>>>>>>> The company is applying to the federal Food and Drug
Administration
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> get
>>>>>>> approval for a marketable version of the vision device that could
> be
>>>>>>> available
>>>>>>> by the end of the year, Wicab CEO Robert Beckman said.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Trying circumstances.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Few have tested BrainPort under more trying circumstances than
>>>>>>> Erik
>>>>>>> Weihenmayer,
>>>>>>> the only blind man to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.
>>>>>>> Weihenmayer,
>>>>>>> totally
>>>>>>> blind since the age of 16, has used the device to help him hike
in
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> woods,
>>>>>>> even ascend climbing walls. But he has most appreciated it for
>>>>>>> letting
>>>>>>> him do
>>>>>>> such simple but rewarding tasks as playing tic-tac-toe with his
>>>>>>> daughter
>>>>>>> or reaching down to pet his dog.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "I have a climbing friend who didn't believe me when I told him
> about
>>>>>>> this,"
>>>>>>> Weihenmayer said. "So he put a Pepsi can on my table in my
kitchen
>>>>>>> while
>>>>>>> I was
>>>>>>> out of the room. Then he called me back in and told me to grab it.
>>>>>>> I
>>>>>>> reached out
>>>>>>> and grabbed the Pepsi can. He was blown away. He was speechless.
He
>>>>>>> had
>>>>>>> tears in his eyes.
>>>>>>> "I mean, it may not seem like a real big deal to people, but to be
>>>>>>> able
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> see your coffee cup ... ."
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Neither Behm nor Weihenmayer are paid consultants to Wicab,
> although
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> company pays some of their expenses.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The late Paul Bach-y-Rita, a UW-Madison physician and specialist
>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>> rehabilitation, first came up with the ideas that inspired
>>>>>>> BrainPort
>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>> the 1960s. The technology was patented by UW-Madison in 1998, and
>>>>>>> commercial
>>>>>>> development has been under way for more than 10 years.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> New ways to work.
>>>>>>> Bach-y-Rita's earliest thinking about the brain's ability to
adapt
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> new ways
>>>>>>> of receiving and processing information - its "plasticity," as it
> is
>>>>>>> known now -
>>>>>>> was likely sparked by the dramatic struggle of his father, Pedro,
> to
>>>>>>> recover from a devastating stroke in the mid-1960s, Beckman said.
>>>>>>> Neurologists in those days believed brain damage could not be
>>>>>>> reversed.
>>>>>>> But
>>>>>>> Bach-y-Rita's brother, George, soon put their father to work
doing
>>>>>>> chores such
>>>>>>> as sweeping the porch of the house. Forced to accomplish more and
>>>>>>> more
>>>>>>> difficult
>>>>>>> tasks, their father eventually recovered completely and even went
>>>>>>> back
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> his job teaching.
>>>>>>> He died at the age of 73 of a heart attack while climbing in the
>>>>>>> mountains of
>>>>>>> Columbia.
>>>>>>> Remarkably, studies of Pedro's brain after his death showed
> massive
>>>>>>> damage to his brain from the stroke. Yet he recovered. Somehow,
>>>>>>> his
>>>>>>> brain had found new ways to work.
>>>>>>> At the UW-Madison, Bach-y-Rita focused his studies on sensory
>>>>>>> substitution, the idea that the brain can learn how to use other
>>>>>>> senses
>>>>>>> to replace one that has been lost or damaged. He concentrated on
> the
>>>>>>> power of touch, studying what happens in the brain when visual
> cues
>>>>>>> come from the sensitive nerves of the
>>>>>>> skin, such as those on the fingertips.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Perfect organ.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Those studies buttressed others that showed the brain can indeed
>>>>>>> learn
>>>>>>> how to use nerve impulses, delivered through touch, to create
>>>>>>> images.
>>>>>>> Exactly what happens remains somewhat of a mystery. But more
>>>>>>> recently,
>>>>>>> MRI images taken of the brain while it is working do show the
>>>>>>> visual
>>>>>>> cortex of the brain
>>>>>>> lighting up when receiving sensory data retrieved through touch.
>>>>>>> "The information does get to the area of the brain that is
>>>>>>> responsible
>>>>>>> for vision," said Kurt Kaczmarek, a UW-Madison engineer and
> scientist
>>>>>>> who was involved in the early work on BrainPort.
>>>>>>> The tongue is the perfect organ for the task, Beckman said,
because
>>>>>>> it
>>>>>>> is moist
>>>>>>> and an excellent transmitter of electrical signals, and it has
>>>>>>> more
>>>>>>> tactile nerve endings than any other part of the body except for
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> lips.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Though one can read the science over and over again, it still
>>>>>>> requires
>>>>>>> somewhat
>>>>>>> of a leap of faith to grasp the idea of "seeing" through the
> tongue.
>>>>>>> Simply, the
>>>>>>> patterns of light picked up by the camera are converted by a tiny
>>>>>>> computer into
>>>>>>>> electrical pulses across 100 stainless steel electrodes. Users
>>>>>>>> say
>>>>>>>> it
>>>>>>>> feels similar to touching a weak battery to your tongue, a bubbly
> or
>>>>>>>> tingling sensation.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The pulses are spatially encoded, meaning the person receiving
> those
>>>>>>> signals on the tongue can perceive depth, perspective, size and
>>>>>>> shape.
>>>>>>> That information is translated by the brain into images - fuzzy
>>>>>>> images, because of the low resolution, but images nonetheless.
> Those
>>>>>>> who have used the device explain
>>>>>>> that they perceive the objects in front of them, separate from
>>>>>>> their
>>>>>>> own
>>>>>>> bodies. A milestone of sorts. Weihenmayer recalled how when he
> first
>>>>>>> tried BrainPort, the researchers sat
>>>>>>> him down at a table, fitted him with the device, and then rolled a
>>>>>>> ball
>>>>>>> toward
>>>>>>> him.
>>>>>>> "It's a hard thing to wrap your brain around," said Weihenmayer.
>>>>>>> "But
>>>>>>> when they
>>>>>>> rolled a white tennis ball toward me, I could feel the ball
> rolling.
>>>>>>> First I could feel the ball starting at the back of my tongue and
>>>>>>> getting bigger and bigger, coming toward me. And then I reached
> out
>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>> grabbed it."
>>>>>>> When he ascends a rock climbing wall with BrainPort, Weihenmayer
>>>>>>> said,
>>>>>>> he
>>>>>>> can see the handholds, their differences in shape and the contrast
> in
>>>>>>> light between
>>>>>>> them and the background. What he sees, he explained, is largely
>>>>>>> shapes
>>>>>>> and light
>>>>>>> variations, sort of an out-of-focus image.
>>>>>>> Last month, Weihenmayer joined Beckman at the National Eye
>>>>>>> Institute's
>>>>>>> 40th
>>>>>>> anniversary celebration to demonstrate BrainPort and some of its
>>>>>>> powers.
>>>>>>> It
>>>>>>> seemed a milestone of sorts.
>>>>>>> But the man whose genius led to the creation of such a useful
>>>>>>> invention
>>>>>>> was not present. Bach-y-Rita died of cancer in November of 2006.
>>>>>>> "He would have loved to have been there," said Beckman.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>> -
>>>
>>>
>>> In God We Trust,
>>>
>>> Carolyn
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