‘A mouse for your mouth': New device allows users to scroll with their tongues

Touchscreens are going hands-free with a new device that allows users to scroll through smartphones using only their tongues.

MouthPad^, a retainer-like trackpad chip that sits on the roof of the mouth, made its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show this week. It can sense tongue movements, allowing users to scroll, type, make calls and even play chess with a swipe or a click of their tongue.

“It is a mouse for your mouth,” Corbin Halliwill, a software engineer at Augmental, the company that created the device, said.

Augmental created MouthPad^ to be a helpful tool to those living with disabilities, especially those with a hand impairment or paralysis. It connects to any tablet, phone or computer through Bluetooth.

Halliwill, along with the company’s co-founders, Corten Singer and Tomás Vega, developed the device after friends and family who were paralyzed struggled to find the right technology that suited their needs.

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