The Latest Computer Interface: Tongue-to-Computer

By Suzanna Brooks

Mouse, keyboard, monitor. Interacting with computers has been about the same for the past 30 years. Despite the recent, rapid progress with smartphone and touchpad technology, we haven’t seen some of the most unique human-computer interfacing until very recently. Technology like Google’s Project Glass and Microsoft’s Kinect are opening new doors to how we interact with our computers. Google Glass employs a thin headset to provide the wearer with an information display just at the edge of the field of view. Kinect was designed to give Xbox users the ability to control their video game systems with gestures via a camera and sensor array.

Wilder still is the Tongueduino, a tongue version of the popular open-source Arduino, that opens up a wide world of possible sensations for the user. Designed and self-tested by MIT Media Lab’s Gershon Dublon, the Tongueduino is a 3×3 electrode pad that rests on your tongue, runs through an Arduino controller, and connects to one of several environmental sensors.

Image from OS-7.ru

Anything that can be converted into an electrical signal, such as visual data, sound, ambient movement, and even electromagnetic fields, can be transmitted to the user through the Tongueduino. The user feels the electrical signals as tiny tingles on the tongue, which the brain learns to interpret in various ways. Practical applications include an inexpensive device for the blind to “see” with their tongue, balance and nausea control for those who have had damage to the delicate inner ear—the vestibular system which regulates such sensations, and the ability to possess a sense of direction as unerring as that of a migrating bird. Another device created to help those with damaged vestibular systems consists of an accelerometer placed in a helmet with an attached tongue piece—a strip of electrodes—connected to a computer, that together interact with the wearer in a way similar to the Tongueduino, creating a substitute vestibular system.

The development of the Tongueduino came about due to the recognition of the tongue as an extremely adaptable instrument for sensing and learning to interpret new sensations. Our tongues possess an abundance of sensitivity and strength, but have gone mostly unconsidered in the world of human-computer interaction until now. According to Dublon’s research, “The tongue is known to have an extremely dense sensing resolution, as well as an extraordinary degree of neuroplasticity, the ability to adapt to and internalize new input. Research has shown that electro-tactile tongue displays paired with cameras can be used as vision prosthetics for the blind or visually impaired; users quickly learn to read and navigate through natural environments, and many describe the signals as an innate sense.”

The current versions of such technology have so far proven to be expensive and difficult to adapt. So Dublon created the Tongueduino to be an inexpensive, vinyl-cut tongue display designed to interface with many types of sensors besides cameras. He also says he hopes to use Tongueduino “to bring electro-tactile sensory substitution beyond the discourse of vision replacement, towards open-ended sensory augmentation that anyone can access.” For demonstration and further information, view Dublon’s YouTube video: Tongueduino: Hackable, High-bandwidth Sensory Augmentation.

Suzanna Brooks joined Mouser Electronics in 2011 as a Technical Content Specialist and writes web content about the newest embedded and optoelectronic products available. Suzanna holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and is a private pilot.