Technology helps blinded soldier 'see' through his tongue

The new system - known as the BrainPort vision device - was developed by the Louis J Fox Centre for Vision Restoration for the US Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) and is being trialled in the UK by retired Lance Corporal, Craig Lundberg, who served with 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.

Mr Lundberg was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in March 2007 while he was on duty in Basra. As a result of the explosion his left eye had to be removed and his right eye was severely damaged leaving him profoundly blind.

Because of our close links with US military medical authorities, the use of the device for UK Service personnel was suggested by US Major General Gale Pollock (Retd), recently US Army Acting Surgeon General, when British Surgeon Rear Admiral Lionel Jarvis, Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Health), visited Pittsburgh to better understand US developments in regenerative medicine and vision restoration in June 2009.

Surgeon Rear Admiral Jarvis arranged for MOD funding for Mr Lundberg to travel to AFIRM in Pittsburgh where he was trained on how to use the BrainPort vision device, which works on the principle of sensory substitution - where one sense is used instead of another. In this case the touch sensors of the tongue are used instead of the photoreceptors of the eye.

To use the system the patient wears a pair of glasses which carry a video camera. Images are fed into a lollypop-like device that is held in the mouth and transforms the pictures into electrical impulses that are felt on the tongue.

The sensation is a tingling of different intensities that correspond to the relative darkness of the pixels recorded on the camera, allowing him to perceive light and dark and negotiate his way around objects.

Mr Lundberg and Wing Commander Rob Scott, his military eye doctor, spent two weeks at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre last year learning how to use and train on the device.

Describing some of the tests, Mr Lundberg said:

"I could feel with my tongue that the first letter was an 'A', and then I moved onto the next one. It was amazing. Then I walked down a corridor and I could make out the doorways, the walls and people coming towards me.

"It was the first time since Iraq that I had been able to do that. The equipment needs a lot of work, but it has got huge potential.

"I am a realist. I know this isn't going to give me my sight back, but it could be the next best thing," Mr Lundberg added.

"I will tell the doctors and the scientists straight what I think of the technology - I won't lie to them. But so far I am impressed."

Wing Commander Scott said Mr Lundberg was the 'obvious choice' to test the technology since he understood his disability well but did not let it hold him back.

Many newly-blind patients can become withdrawn and depressed but Mr Lundberg has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for Help for Heroes, run the London Marathon and played in the England blind football team since his injury.

The pair will now trial the device at the Birmingham Midland Eye Centre and the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, where Mr Lundberg will undergo further training, and he will be using the device at home to increase his mobility and confidence in finding his way in unfamiliar environments.

It is hoped that eventually Mr Lundberg will be able to train others with similar impairments in the use of the device.

Wing Commander Scott said:

"If this technology is going to work at all I believe it has to be developed through blind people for blind people.

"I am waiting to see how it works with Craig and if it is a success we can start extending the project to include other blind Service people.

"At the moment the funding is for people who have been war-blinded, but if it is a success it is possible that it could be used to help the wider population."