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Cyborg Hears Colour With Device Fixed To Skull

An cyborg artist has told how he "hears" colours using an antenna fused onto his skull.

Neil Harbisson was born with a condition that meant he could not see any colours at all - only shades of grey.

So he had a device, which he calls an "eyeborg," attached to the bone on the back of his head to act as a third eye.

The implant reads colours - including dozens of shades imperceptible to the human eye - and turns them into sound waves that vibrate in his skull.

Belfast-born Mr Harbisson won a battle with the British Passport Authority to have his passport picture showing his antenna.

The victory for cyborg rights came after he successfully argued that the antenna, which he has worn for 10 years, was not a piece of technology but part of his body.

Speaking from Barcelona, he told Sky News: "It slowly became a part of my life. Now it's just a body part and an extension of my senses.

"I don't feel I'm using or wearing technology, I feel that I am technology."

The most recent update to the antenna included an internet connection, which allows Mr Harbisson to receive colours from all over the world - and even from space.

He said: "Now there's five people on different continents that have direct connections to my skull and if they feel like sharing a colour they're seeing they can use their mobile phone... so I feel like I have an eye in each continent.

"What I did two weeks ago was I connected to a satellite, so I could sense the colours in space, because there's colours that we can't receive here that exist in space."