The PC blinded by gunman Raoul Moat is hoping that pioneering equipment will enable him to "see" using his tongue.
David Rathband has been selected to be trained to use a BrainPort device, which consists of sunglasses fitted with a hand-held video camera.It sends pictures on to a postage stamp-sized grid of electrodes placed on the tongue, which pulsates according to the light level in each area.
The user then learns to interpret the sensations as a visual image.
Mr Rathband was shot in the face and shoulder from point-blank range with a shotgun as he sat in his marked police car in Denton Burn, Newcastle, on 3 July 2010.
The 43-year-old, from Cramlington, lost his sight and has been fitted with prosthetic eyes.
His family has set up a campaign to raise the £16,000 necessary for the BrainPort device, its maintenance and the required training.
taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-16158343
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