Tongue-steered wheelchair helps lick mobility problem

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

PARIS (AFP) — Engineers in Britain and the United States have devised a wheelchair that the disabled can steer using their tongue, New Scientist says.

The gadget works thanks to a tiny microphone that points inside the ear canal and is sealed off from outside noise 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 them into electrical signals, which are sent to a computer that then converts them into commands to steer the wheelchair.

The chair, invented by Ravi Vaidyanathan at the University...