Electro Tactile Stimulation - Brain Port

« The device of balance BrainPort represents a revolutionary headway in the treatment of the patients suffering from balance disorders, " clarifies Robert Beckman, CEO de Wicab.

In 1997, Bach-y-Rita and co-workers developed a system where the sensory relay role is played by the tongue.

Why? Because it is the human organ that is the most innervated in tactile receivers, and because it soaks in a conductive solution, the saliva.

The last TDUs, marketed under the naming BrainPortTM by the company Wicab founded by Bach-y-Rita, is stimulating 25 x 25 ( 625 microelectrodes). They have first been tested to correct balance disorders. The device supplies information in the brain on the position of the head by a light electric stimulation on the tongue.

How does it work? According to Paul Bach-y-Rita, " Brain Port connects a machine to the brain by means of the tongue which, from the point of view of the contribution of outside information, is comparable to the principle of a port USB The tactile sensory cells(units) of the tongue are stimulated thanks to the electro activity of the contact points of the stimulating. So, the information reaches the brain effectively by means of nervous connections which connect it with the tongue."»

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A New Technology

The device of balance BrainPort appeals to an exclusive technology allowing the patients affected by balance disorders to improve their balance. Thanks to the training on the device, the patients note a significant improvement in terms of balance, posture and walking. By using the device regularly, the patients maintain these improvements between the sessions of exercise.

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The Therapy

The main objective of this treatment is based on the stake in action of a system of vestibular electro-tactile replacement (VETR) and its efficiency for the recovery of the control of the posture in patients presenting a bilateral vestibular loss, whether these patients are sitting or standing. The patients were trained to wear the hanging prosthesis ( BrainPort) 6 in 12 days. They experienced easily the position and the movement of a small-sized "target" stimulus from the electro-tactile device put on the surface of the tongue, and they interpreted these in trainings to correct and adjust their posture so that the target stimulus is centered. Two daily sessions of twenty minutes allow significant one valid functional improvement all day long.