14 DAY TRIAL // A color-blind artist claims to have recovered the ability to sense colors after successfully implanting an electronic chip into his skull.
Neil Harbisson, 31, says he can now “hear” the various shades and hues thanks to the medical implant which allows him to perceive colors as sound vibrations.
The British contemporary artist was born with a rare condition called achromatopsia which only allows him to see in black and white. He has been wearing an external electronic eye for about ten years, but he has now persuaded doctors to implant the chip inside his skull in order to be able to really “see” colors.
“For me the sky is always grey, flowers are always grey and television is black and white. But since the age of 21 instead of seeing color I can hear color,” the artist said during a conference in 2012.
Since 2004, Harbisson has been working on the development of an innovative device which he calls an “eyeborg.” The cyborg antenna consists of a camera on one end and an audio input on the other end, which is now implanted inside the back of his head.
This cybernetic body apparatus is designed to allow him to perceive colors through sound waves. It works with a head-mounted antenna that senses the colors in front of him and converts them into sound waves in real-time through bone conduction. Eyeborgs are currently being treated as body parts not as devices.
Between December and March, Harbisson has undergone a series of operations in Barcelona, Spain, and the chip is now successfully fitted inside his head.
The implanted chip should allow him to perceive more intricate colors, as it transmits vibrations directly to his ear, in a similar way to a cochlear implant. The chip is also equipped with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, which will allow him to hear images sent from a mobile phone, without using the camera.
This makes him the first person in the world capable of experiencing an image this way without even looking at it first.
“This announcement is not the launch of a new product and it is not the presentation of new technology – it is the presentation of a new body part that will allow us to extend our senses in unimaginable ways,” Harbisson said, according to Daily Mail.
Herbisson is demonstrating the device today at London's Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design.
Achromatopsia, also known as color agnosia, refers to the inability to perceive color and to achieve satisfactory visual acuity at high light levels.