Hearing Through the Tongue

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Researchers at Colorado State University are looking to an unlikely muscle to improve the lives of the hearing impaired: the tongue.

The tongue is a highly sensitive area, which is why the researchers chose to hone in on it. They are tackling deafness much like Braille is used for blindness. With Braille, blind people, overtime, associate certain patterns of bumps to corresponding words. These researchers are substituting fingertips with the tongue and bumps with waveforms.

The system is set up in the following fashion: an earpiece containing a microphone picks up sounds and words and converts them into complex, unique waveforms to represent each different spoken word. These waveforms are then sent to a special retainer worn by the user via Bluetooth, which then uses these waveforms and electrodes to excite somatic nerves on the tongue in a manner unique to every individual word.

This is by no means an overnight process. Like with Braille, this process of hearing takes time for the user to associate patterns of touch (on the tongue) with individual words. However, what could make this an effective bit of technology is that this process is occurring in real-time. While Braille requires blind people to consciously memorize certain patterns of bumps, this retainer method for deaf people allows their brains to subconsciously link tongue patterns to individual words at the instant in which they are being spoken.

Researchers do admit, however, that this technology is optimal for the partially deaf, as they can use this to add onto the faint sounds they may hear. They also say that, if all goes according to plan, the system could cost $2,000. It may sound like a hefty sum, but it is still cheaper than the price of cochlear implants. Plus, the retainer requires no surgery. Overall, this is a very creative approach to combatting deafness.