FORT COLLINS, Colo. — More than 40 million Americans have some type of hearing disability.  Researchers at Colorado State University have developed a device that could help many of them.

The Sound Retainer is a device that retrains the brain to recognize sound through signals sent to the tongue.

The idea is to provide a more affordable alternative to a cochlear implant, which can cost upwards of $60,000.

The team at CSU includes Dr. John Williams, who created the concept, Joel Moritz, Jr., project leader and Dr. Leslie Stone-Roy.  The team is working with a larger prototype right now, but the finished product will be the size of a dental retainer.

It would be offered at a fraction of the cost of a cochlear implant for those with certain disabilities.

“We want to build something that someone could buy in a store and it could change their life,” Moritz said.

The system uses electrodes on the tongue to transmit signals to the brain from tiny microphones placed on the body. The brain reads the signals as sound. It is all done through a Bluetooth signal so there are no wires and patients will barely be able to tell the system is there.

“When you stick the device in your mouth and you play that music in your ear listening on your tongue, it just totally freaks you out the hair on the back of your neck stands up,” Dr. Williams said.

Dr. Leslie Stone-Roy’s sister is hearing impaired and unable to be helped by a cochlear implant, but the Sound Retainer could change her life.  She said, “If she had this device she’d be able to tell if someone called her from across the room with direction that sound was coming from.”

This amazing technology coming out of Colorado, is just one of the latest that will help millions of people around the world to experience a whole new dimension in life: The beauty of sound.

It is possible that the team will pursue a Kickstarter campaign to help bring the Sound Retainer to fruition for those in need.  FOX31 Denver will continue to follow their progress.