Colorblind Man 'Hears' Colors

Neil Harbisson has a condition known as achromatopsia.

That means he has complete color blindness. He can only see in grayscale.

Back in 2003 he teamed up with some computer scientists and together they made him an "electronic eye."

He wears the device on his head and it detects the color frequency of whatever's in front of him.

It then converts that to a sound frequency and a chip in the back of his head plays the sound, vibrating through his bones to his inner ear, allowing him to "hear" colors.

That's crazy!

He did a TED talk where he said:

"I've been hearing color for eight years since 2004 so I find it completely normal to hear color all the time. At the start, I had to memorize the names you give for each color, so I had to memorize the notes, but after some time this information became a perception. I didn't have to think about the notes, and after some time this perception became a feeling."

So now he can go to art galleries, which sound like concerts, or dress himself.

What's cool is he can also reverse this process and translate songs into colors. Justin Bieber's Baby is bubble gum pinks and neon yellows, of course.

So cool that this man gets to be a cyborg and live a more normal life.

[Image via AP Images.]

Tags: artist, concert, condition, cool, crazy, head, hearing, justin bieber, life, man, scientists