The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Thursday the approval of a new device that's designed to help blind people see with their tongues when combined with other devices.
The battery-powered device called BrainPort V100 is equipped with a camera that is connected to a pair of glasses and another device on the user's tongue. The images captured by the camera are converted to electrical signals which become stimulation patterns on the surface of the tongue. These patterns will then be interpreted by the user to determine the shape, size, location and motion of the object. The blind person needs to undergo a minimum of 10 hours of one-on-one training for two weeks to properly use the device.
Wicab chief executive Robert Beckman said that a device costs about $10,000. It was first approved in Europe in 2013 and is now being sold in Germany, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom, the Washington Post reported.
The device manufacturer Wicab, Inc. in Middleton, Wisc. submitted clinical data to the FDA to prove its safety and effectiveness. They have used the device on different assessments such as object recognition and word identification. They also tested to see if it is safe to wear it in the mouth.
Research shows that 69 percent of the 74 blind people who used the device passed the object recognition assessment after a year of training.
"Medical device innovations like this have the potential to help millions of people," William Maisel, deputy director for science and chief scientist in the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in the news release. "It is important we continue advancing device technology to help blind Americans live better, more independent lives."
Some of the identified reactions while wearing the device include burning, stinging or metallic taste in the mouth.
According to the National Federation of the Blind, about 6.7 million Americans have a visual disability. People who are visually impaired struggle in finding a job; only 38 percent of the working adults were employed in 2012.
