Tongue Technology Gives Paralyzed a Big Hand

ATLANTA, Georgia

Researchers at Georgia Tech are in the process of turning the tongue into a joystick… but not just for video games, but for computers, household appliances, wheelchairs, and more. The new technology turns the inside of a persons mouth into a virtual computer keyboard, allowing those people paralyzed from the neck down to have unprecedented control over their environment. The tongue presents several advantages over the existing systems: the muscle is flexible, sensitive and tireless. It would benefit a large percentage of those disabled from the neck down due to spinal cord injury because it the tongue is controlled by the brain. There are a few versions of tongue controlled systems out there: one uses a nine-button keypad placed on the roof of the mouth to control electronics. Another uses a virtual keyboard manipulated by an extremely tiny magnet placed on the tip of the tongue and inside each cheek. Software picks up on the tongue’s movements translates them into controls for electronics.

"You could have full control over your environment by just being able to move your tongue," said Maysam Ghovanloo, a Georgia Tech assistant professor who leads the team's research.

Mike Jones, a vice president of research and technology at the Shepherd Center, an Atlanta rehabilitation hospital adds that the new tongue tech has advantages over existing imprecise and expensive technologies:

"This could give you an almost infinite number of switches and options for communication… It's easy, and somebody could learn an entirely different language."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/08/25/tongue.computing.ap/index.html