Technology

Steering wheelchairs with the tongue

Engineers in Britain and the US have devised a wheelchair that the disabled an steer using their tongue. The gadget works thanks to a tiny microphone that points inside the ear canal and is by a plug. When the wearer moves his tongue, this forces air around the mouth, causing  pressure changes that provide a unique signature of the movement.

The pressure changes are conveyed from the mouth to the ear canal via the so-called Eustachian tube. The microphone detects the pressure shifts and transcribes the into electrical signals, which are sent to a computer that then coverts them into commands to steer the wheel-chair.

The chair, invented by Ravi Vaidyanathan at the University of Southampton and Lalit Gupta of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, is an improvement on the present technology.

Quadriplegics typically have to suck or blow into a straw, or move a computer cursor to guide the wheel-chair, which can be unhygienic or irritating.

The tongue-guided device is to be launched by a Cleveland, Ohio-based company by the end of the year.

Source: Tongue-steered wheelchair to help disabled, Hindu Business Line, Daily New Delhi, 6 July 2007