Tech Synaesthesia

Researchers in Germany have been experimenting with a vibrating belt that gives the wearer constant input as to which direction is north. It's part of a long line of experiments all over the world that examine the ability of technology to alter and enhance our 5 senses.

The human brain is an incredible thing. With the appropriate sensory input, it can be programmed to vastly improve sense of direction (my wife would love to be able to do this to me), stabilise a damaged sense of balance through electric pulses on the tongue or how to tell which way is up and which way is down (particularly important for pilots).

We humans get just the five [senses]. But why? Can our senses be modified? Expanded? Given the right prosthetics, could we feel electromagnetic fields or hear ultrasound? The answers to these questions, according to researchers at a handful of labs around the world, appear to be yes.

- Sunny Bains, Wired.

Mixed Feelings - Wired
Originally found via Boing Boing [permalink]
feelSpace - Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Onsabruck.


Image of the feelSpace belt taken from the Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Onsabruck