Hear with your MOUTH: Device lets people 'listen' to words by feeling electrical impulses on their tongue

A group of Colorado researchers are developing a hearing device that bypasses the ear altogether. The technology relies on a Bluetooth-enabled earpiece to detect sound and send electrical impulses to an electrode-packed retainer that wearers press their tongue against to 'hear.'

'It's much simpler than undergoing surgery and we think it will be a lot less expensive than cochlear implants,' said John Williams, associate professor at Colorado State University.

Professor Williams came up with the idea for the device during what he calls a 'research midlife crisis', when he also developed tinnitus - a constant, high-pitched ringing in his ears.

He hit upon the idea that the tongue contains thousands of nerves and the region of the brain that interprets touch sensations from the tongue is capable of decoding complicated information.

Unlike hearing aids, which amplify sound, cochlear implants circumvent damaged areas of the ear and stimulate the auditory nerve directly.

Microphones outside the ear detect sounds and send them to a speech processor, which analyses the information and transmits it to a receiver where it is converted into electric impulses.

The implant sends those impulses directly to the auditory nerve. With training, the brain learns to recognise these impulses as useful sound information.

The Colorado device operates in the same way except electric impulses are sent via Bluetooth to a retainer-like mouthpiece packed with electrodes.

When users press their tongue against the device, they feel a distinct pattern of electric impulses as a tingling or vibrating sensation.

The idea is that, with training, the brain will learn to interpret specific patterns as words, thus allowing someone to 'hear' with their tongue.

Professor Williams and JJ Moritz, a CSU graduate student, have spent the past year building and testing prototypes of the technology.

Their initial results are promising enough that they have filed a provisional patent for the technology and launched Sapien LLC, a start-up company, to help advance the technology.

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