At the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, researchers are developing a system that will use the tongue as the interface for Navy SEAL divers, Army Rangers, and other front-line soldiers. Given the very science-fiction-esque name of "Brain Port," the technology enables sonar echoes to be detected via the underused sensory organ, leaving the user's hands and eyes free to respond to immediate dangers.

"Most of the human-computer interaction so far has been on using the eyes, ears, and hands," said Dr. Geri Gay, professor of Communications and Information Sciences at Cornell University and an expert on interface design.

"Everything nowadays is so ubiquitous with mobile computing , and we need to find new, hands-free ways of interacting for environments where your hands and eyes are busy," she noted. "I could see something like this being used in cars."

Human Adaptations

Nature, which would not be surprised at all by such an interface, has endowed owls, fish, and snakes with discerning tongues. Pit vipers, for example, are known to have highly sensitive tongues with which they "smell" the air for other animals.

In the human adaptation of this natural strategy, researchers have users stick their tongues into a red plastic strip, filled with microelectrodes, to retrieve information from such instruments as electronic compasses or hand-held sonar devices.

"You are feeling the outline of this image," Michael Zinszer, director of the Florida State University's Crime Scene Investigation School and an experienced diver, told the Associated Press after testing the system. "I was in the pool, they were directing me to a very small object, and I was able to locate everything very easily." He compared the tongue device to feeling tingly Pop Rocks candies.

Funded by the famed Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- most commonly known as DARPA -- the project also aims to enable infrared vision via the tongue, resulting in the appropriate tongue-twister of "infrared-tongue vision."

With infrared-tongue vision, divers, soldiers, or pilots could see behind themselves or move in the dark without night-vision goggles, according to project lead scientist Anil Raj.

Sensory Fusion

This research is based on work that began more than 30 years ago at the University of Wisconsin by Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita, a neuroscientist who first tried to relay camera images through electrodes taped to the backs of test subjects. He shifted his research to the tongue as a superior receiving device.

In May, the Florida researchers intend to demonstrate a prototype to the military with the hope that development will be moved onto a fast-track. If it is, the military could begin to use the new system in the near future.

Researchers say the technology also might be useful in helping the blind navigate hallways or even catch balls. And a special version of the interface might be of use in restoring balance to people whose inner ears have been damaged.