Ivan is 39 years old and the only thing he had heard for 15 years was silence. Due to a work accident he was deaf, but now he can hear again, knowing the voice of his children, a horn of a car, a knock of a door. All thanks to Luis Campos, an Argentine electronic engineer who created an innovative technology.
"The revolutionary of this is that it is not through the ear, but through the index finger," says the creator, but how? Through a system that processes the vibrotactile information: "I discovered that the index finger has the possibility of discriminating a fairly high frequency range. I wondered what would happen if a deaf person stimulated it with a vibrotactile signal. I just wanted to call his attention, but I never imagined that he would respond with speech. "
Campos told the story on a radio show where he recounted Ivan's reactions: "When we did the test and managed to listen he said 'This is my voice. I have not heard my voice for 15 years, ' "he continued:" When he heard his voice again after so long, he was petrified. "
The device is like a sewing thimble that fits the index finger, left or right, connected to a digital device, the size of an iPhone, which processes the information, and a microphone that is placed 15 centimeters from the mouth, With a range of four meters of ambient noise, but which prioritizes the voice.
The microphone captures the sound, processes it and converts it into a vibrotactile stimulus, which touches the index finger and then the nerve transmits to the brain. Even the equipment serves to improve the way of speaking; And has the advantage that it does not carry a battery, but a battery. "You charge it like a cell phone," added its creator.
The inventor explained that the system already has several years, but that in Argentina never supported him and that's why he went to the Institute of Neuro Sciences of Guadalajara, Mexico, where they allow him to develop his invention.