BrainPort is based on the proposition that one sees with the brain, not with the eyes. Embedded in the headset is a camera, a surrogate “eye,” that translates the shapes of things in the physical world into vibrations that can be felt through a device placed on the user’s tongue. With practice, one can learn to interpret the vibrating patterns and actually start to see.
On view at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, as part of Access+Ability, from through Sept. 3, 2018.