I love my tongue. The tongue is a pretty awesome muscle, especially for people with neurological impairments. Since it’s not connected to the spinal cord (it‘s nerves are connected directly to the brain, just like an octopus‘ tentacles or an elephant‘s trunk), conditions like Parkinson’s, spinal cord injuries, MS, etc, usually don’t affect it’s ability to function (at least not right away, if you‘re talking about progressive diseases).
I use my tongue/mouth for so many things you don’t even want to know, but let’s put it this way: If I didn’t have my tongue I’d need a lot more PCA hours each day. I can unwrap gum with my tongue, I pick-up popcorn with my tongue….I can….yeah…I <3 my tongue.
And researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology agree. Looking for new ways to help people who can’t use their arms or legs to operate a wheelchair, they developed a tiny magnet sensor (the size of a lentil, which they glue onto your tongue using edible glue!) that allows the user to drive his or her wheelchair by touching their tongue to their back left molar to turn left, the right molar to turn right, you get the idea.
There have been mouth-operated powerchairs for years now (think Sip ‘n Puff), but incorporating the tongue is a new idea. If I had to use technology such as this, this tongue sensor would really be exciting to me. It’s inconspicuous, which I like. Heck, I’d even use the technology with the way I am now. No more joystick? Having my right/main hand free to hold coffee as I drive down the city sidewalk? That would be amazing!
This technology is not yet on the market, with more user trials set for 2010.
- See With Thy Tongue, on Disaboom
- Powerchair: A Very Dichotomous Piece of Equipment, on Disaboom
- Missing step in SCI rehab? (discussion), on Disaboom
