Color Blind Artist ‘Hears’ What He Sees

Neil Harbisson is someone very special, as he claims to be a color blind artist who is able to ‘hear’ the various shades and hues, courtesy of a medical implant deep within his skull. This is definitely not the first time that a brain implant has helped humanity, as we have seen how a brain implant helped a 17 month old boy hear for the first time in his life.

Neil Harbisson has described himself as the world’s first ‘eyeborg’, where he is proud to be able to ‘hear’ colors without having to look at them thanks to this special device. Being born with achromatopsia, which is a rare condition that will only enable him to see in black and white, he has been wearing this external electronic eye for approximately ten years. Color has a frequency of its own, and these are picked up thanks to a camera within the device itself that will then be turned into audio vibrations.

Neil did persuade the surgeons to implant the chip within his head, so that it works in the same manner as that of a cochlear implant. A series of operations happened in Barcelona, Spain, between December and March, so that the implant is successfully fitted inside his head, comprising of a camera on one end, while audio input is on the other.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Medical
Tags: implant