A device for a language can help deaf people start hearing

In the last article, we learned about various devices that help people with disabilities, phones , tablets and even watches for blind people. Now inventions are beginning to appear that should help deaf people defeat their ailment.



* For reference : According to the World Health Organization, more than 360 million people in the world today are deaf or hard of hearing. 165 million of them are people over 65 years old. And 32 million of hearing impaired and deaf - children younger than 15 years.

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In the future, people with hearing loss may not need surgery to install a cochlear implant . This is the conclusion reached by researchers at the University of Colorado, who invented a device inserted into the mouth and helps to hear. A team of engineers and neurologists are developing a special hearing device that allows you to hear the words “by mouth”, completely eliminating the need for ears.



The technology is based on a Bluetooth speaker fixing sounds and words around, and then transmits them as electronic pulses to a latch with electrodes. Clicking on it with the language of the device owners have the opportunity to perceive sounds and speech.







The idea of ​​the device belongs to Professor John Williams , who came to him as he himself says "during the study of the crisis of the middle years." The engineer successfully developed electrical power plants for spacecraft, and then struggled to find a new unattainable occupation for himself. However, after long work in vacuum chambers, he developed strong tinnitus, which prompted him to study neurology and the study of cochlear implants.







Of course, it will still be a long time before this technology starts mass-produced and becomes available to everyone. That is why John called for the help of the neurobiologist Leslie Stone-Roy, who must determine the most effective places in the language for vibrating electrodes.







In any case, the technology seems quite promising compared to a cochlear implant, which produces the best effect mainly in young patients. Therefore, John and his team created a startup Sapien LLC, the achievements of which we will hear very soon.