Eyeborg

body modification apparatus

An eyeborg or eye-borg is an electronic eye that allows people to hear colors. It is mostly used by blind people or by people with color blindness. It works by using a head mounted camera that reads the colors directly in front of a person, and converts them into musical notes.[1]

The first eyeborg was made in England in 2003 by Adam Montandon in collaboration with colourblind artist Neil Harbisson. The invention won a British award in Innovation (Submerge 2004)[2] and a European award in Content Tools and Interface Design (Europrix 2004).[3] In 2007, Peter Kese, a software developer from Slovenia, made further developments to the eyeborg by increasing the number of colors to 360 and adding color intensity through different volume levels.[4] Matias Lizana, a student from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya is currently developing the eyeborg into a smaller chip as part of his final year project. The new chip will allow users to hear colors in stereo and to embed the device.[5]

Other websites

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References

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  1. Alfredo M. Ronchi: Eculture: Cultural Content in the Digital Age. Springer (New York, 2009). p.319 ISBN 978-3-540-75273-8
  2. Submerge Innovation Award (Bristol, 2004)[dead link]
  3. Europrix Europrix Awards
  4. Harbisson, Neil. "Painting by ear" Modern Painters, The International Contemporary Art Magazine pp.70-73. New York, June 2008.
  5. Sanchis, Ima. "La veo en blanco y negro pero la oigo en colores"[permanent dead link], La Contra de La Vanguardia, 10 July 2010.