New device can help you 'hear' with your tongue

Colorado State University has come up with a new device that allows users to 'hear' with their tongues.

According to IFLScience the device doesn't restore hearing, but rather converts sounds into distinct vibrations that can be felt by the tongue.

The reason the researchers picked the tongue is because it houses thousands of nerves and the brain is very good at interpreting the sensations that come from it.

With training these can then be decoded into sounds and words.

 “It’s similar in terms of your fingertips; that’s why we use fingers to read Braille. The tongue is similar in that it has high acuity,” Leslie Stone-Roy, one of the researchers on the team that designed the device. said.

The technology is both cheaper than cochlear implants, and cheaper.

“Some people suggest it feels like the sensation of having champagne bubbles or Pop Rocks on their tongue,” engineer and project leader John Williams said.