It may sound like science fiction, but there’s a man who can actually hear colors instead of see colors.
British native Neil Harbisson was born color blind, but instead of accepting his disability, he used it for good and helped create the first cyborg antenna. He is now the first person in the world to have an antenna implanted in his skull.
Before he met cyberneticist Adam Montandon at a college lecture, Harbisson could only see in black and white. He worked with Montandon to design a lightweight eyepiece that he wears on his forehead which can transpose the light frequencies of color hues into sound frequencies.
He calls his prosthetic device an “eyeborg,” and it allows him to hear the color spectrum, even those colors beyond the range of human sight.
His implanted antenna allows him to perceive visible and invisible colors such as infrareds and ultraviolets via sound waves as well as receive images, videos, music, or even phone calls directly into his head as sound.
In 2004, Harbisson was officially recognized as a cyborg by the government and has since been described by international media as the world's first cyborg and cyborg artist since he uses his implant to express himself through a new sense created by cybernetics and his brain.
His artwork
Harbisson's artwork blends sound and sight. In his Sound Portraits series, he listens to the colors of faces to create a microtonal chord.
Just a few months ago, Harbisson conducted his first color-inspired concert with the help of his eyeborg implant. Watch it in the video below.
Video via Vodafone Firsts.
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