AaeLollipopAAE helps reveal shapes to the blind.

By Ibby Caputo After Marine Cpl. Mike Jernigan was blinded by a roadside bomb in Iraq, he said, not much was done for him. AoI returned back from Iraq and (Veterans Affairs) gave me a stick. A stick and a tap on the butt and they said, AaeGo aheadAAE.Ao Five years later and thanks to the ambitions of a handful of people, Jernigan has more than a walking cane. He has been given a special AolollipopAo, a device that uses his tongue to stimulate his visual cortex and send sensory information to his brain. Also called the intra-oral device, or IOD, the lollipop is an inch-square grid with 625 small round metal pieces. It is connected by a wire to a small camera mounted on a pair of sunglasses and to a hand-held controller about the size of a BlackBerry. The camera sends an image to the lollipop, which transmits a low-voltage pulse to JerniganAAEs tongue. With training, Jernigan has learned to translate that pulse into pictures. He can now identify the shapes of what is in front of him, even though both of his eyes have been removed. AoItAAEs kind of like Braille that you use with your fingers,Ao said Amy Nau, an optometrist who is researching the effectiveness of the device at the University of Pittsburgh. AoInstead of symbols, itAAEs a picture, and instead of your fingertips, itAAEs your tongue.Ao The machine is called the BrainPort vision device and is manufactured by Wicab, a biomedical engineering company based in Middleton, Wis. It relies on sensory substitution, the process in which if one sense is damaged, the part of the brain that would normally control that sense can learn to perform another function. In JerniganAAEs case, the visual cortex is recruited to take on tactile recognition. AoTouch takes over for vision in this case,Ao said Maurice Ptito, a professor of visual science at the University of MontrealAAEs School of Optometry, who has scanned the brains of blind people using the machine. AoWe notice that they activate the visual cortex, which is the part of the brain that a seeing person would use.Ao Bob Beckman, the president and chief executive of Wicab, said the BrainPort might be on the market by the end of the year, priced at about $10,000. Jernigan, 30, who lives with his wife and stepson in McLean, Va., received his BrainPort from Wicab for free as one of more than 100 blind people who have tested the instrument. He communicates with researchers about its benefits and limitations. AoIt is designed for stationary tasks,Ao he said. If the camera were to transmit images of a moving scene, there would be Aotoo much information to process at onceAo. Still, Jernigan uses the BrainPort for everything he can. AoWhen your sink gets clogged up, you got pieces laying down on the floor,Ao he said. AoIt helps you find your pieces.Ao Jernigan recently demonstrated the device at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He sat with the lollipop in his mouth wearing camera-equipped Oakley sunglasses as Gale Pollock, the centerAAEs executive director, stuck simple white felt shapes on a black felt screen. After she placed each shape in front of him, she asked, AoMike, what do you see?Ao After a few seconds, Jernigan answered correctly each time. AoHorizontal line,Ao he said. AoCircle.Ao AoDiagonal line pointing that way,Ao showing the lineAAEs direction with his arm. AoThis device does not give you your sight,Ao Jernigan said. AoThere is not that picture in your head.Ao AoWhen you were a child, did anyone ever draw a picture on your back?Ao Beckman asked during a phone interview. He said receiving information via the BrainPort is similar to perceiving a shape sketched on your skin by a personAAEs finger. AoItAAEs a first step,Ao said Pollock, a retired Army general. AoItAAEs very elementary, but for so many generations the visually impaired and blind have been told, AaeIAAEm sorry, there is nothing that we can do.AAE Ao Nau said the AovisionAo produced is very rudimentary. AoBlocks, shapesAuitAAEs black and white,Ao she said. AoThere is no stereo vision,Ao or depth perception. Beckman said the companyAAEs mission is not to re-create vision but to provide information. AoI think we are in the infancy of this technology,Ao he said. Paul Bach-y-Rita, the late founder of Wicab, discovered in the late 1990s that the tongue was the ideal place to provide information through tactile stimulation, Beckman said. AoThere is a high level of nerve endings in the tongue, similar to a finger,Ao he said. AoAnd the tongue is constantly moist, so there is constant electric conductivity.Ao Beckman said a finger would require 10 times more electric stimulation than the tongue does to produce the same results in the visual cortex. There are no known risks associated with the BrainPort, according to Nau, though some patients have reported a tingling sensation on their tongues after using the device. Jernigan said the electric stimulation on his tongue is mild. AoYou ever stick a nine-volt battery on your tongue?Ao Jernigan asked during a phone interview. AoIt feels like that, but less. ItAAEs not as intense as that.Ao Jernigan said he uses the controller to tweak the strength of the stimulation. AoYou can make it more powerful if youAAEd like,Ao he said. Jernigan, who is studying government affairs at Georgetown University but will be moving to St. Petersburg next month to attend the University of South Florida, said the BrainPort allows him a better life. AoFor five years I have stared at a blank, black screen,Ao he said. AoPeople are thinking outside of the box, and by doing so, it allows someone like me to have the hope of the possibility that I might see again.Ao LATWP News Servic

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