The way to restore a sense of balance to a person who's wobbly or to help a blind person to see may be right on their tongues.

At least, that's the vision of the BrainPort devices being developed by Wicab, 8476 Greenway Blvd., Middleton.

Wicab was founded in 1998 by UW-Madison professor of orthopedics and rehabilitation medicine Paul Bach-y-Rita, who died in late 2006.

Robert Beckman joined Wicab as president and chief executive in December 2004 and has guided the company from early prototypes to testing and design changes, and now, clinical trials.

Wicab's first BrainPort product, designed to bring equilibrium to patients with balance disorders, is being tested at 20 sites around the world and could be on the market in the U.S. a year from now. It's already being sold in Europe, Canada and Latin America.

Wicab (pronounced WEE-cob; means "lover of honey" in Mayan and is Bach-y-Rita's widow Esther's maiden name) also is working on a BrainPort device to help blind people see.

Beckman, 54, a Gary, Ind., native, is a certified public accountant who was vice president and chief financial officer of Lunar Corp., Madison, and later, of Bone Care International, Middleton.

Now part of GE Healthcare, Lunar makes machines that screen for bone density. The former Bone Care, a spinoff from Lunar, developed drugs to treat a condition that can lead to bone damage in kidney patients.

Bone Care was bought by Genzyme, a Cambridge, Mass., biopharmaceutical company, in 2005.

Q: A few years ago, the BrainPort balance device included a helmet for patients to wear over their heads. Now, the helmet is gone. How has the form of the product evolved?

A: A lot of effort has gone into simplifying everything so the device is easier for everyone to use, including elderly people. It's amazing what we've learned. A lot of our development dollars have gone into refining the electrode array so it will last for a long time without degradation.

The postage stamp-sized electrode pad that goes onto the tongue has a lot of circuitry inside. Electronic components cannot be exposed to moisture but this is used in a constant moist environment. The electrodes had been gold; now we use stainless steel. It's much less likely to corrode.

Q: How does the technology work?

A: The balance device has two main parts: a controller box that's about the size of a paperback book and the electrode panel. The electrodes sit on the front of a patient's tongue; when the patient leans to one side or tilts forward or backward, the electrodes send a light buzz to the tongue in the direction of the tilt. When the patient stands straight, the buzz stays in the center. It's very intuitive.

Patients train with the BrainPort balance device with their eyes closed, twice a day, for 20 minutes at a time and maintain their balance by simply keeping that signal in the center of the tongue. They typically show significant improvement in balance within eight weeks. For people with chronic balance problems, it's a life saver. It's well worth the time for them.

Q: What is the timetable for results from the clinical trials?

A: We just initiated controlled clinical studies involving the first 50 patients at more than 20 sites, including the U.S., Europe and South America. Our goal is to submit the initial results to the Food and Drug Administration in early 2009 and we hope for clearance to sell the device by summer 2009.

Q: How common are balance disorders and what causes them?

A: They are much more common than you might think. I've estimated about 1 million Americans are affected by balance disorders. The National Institutes of Health doesn't keep that data. They can be related to allergic reactions to certain medications, nervous-system tumors called acoustic neuromas, or just by aging.

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets used the BrainPort when allergies gave him acoustic neuritis.

We are also conducting a separate study in collaboration with the UW-Madison for use of the BrainPort balance device with stroke and brain-injury patients and we're still recruiting participants for that study.

Q: Where do things stand with the BrainPort vision device?

A: It's still a prototype but we are developing the next-generation version, scheduled for release in January 2009 for use in clinical trials.

Right now, one piece is about the size of a small camera and contains three cameras. It mounts on the patient's forehead and connects to a computer worn in a backpack. A 400-electrode array sits on the tongue and also connects to the computer. A small Sony laptop with a split screen shows what the cameras see as well as the images displayed on the blind subject's tongue and relayed to the brain.

It's not vision the way you and I know it. We cannot try to re-create vision. But with training, blind people can sense edges of objects and recognize patterns.

We will simplify the camera so it can be mounted on a pair of glasses and simplify the laptop to the size of an iPod before the clinical trials, which will try to show that the device improves safety. We may also increase the number of electrodes to 900, to enhance resolution.

Q: What will you need to do to increase production, and what do you foresee for Wicab's future?

A: We do the manufacturing here in Middleton and some of the parts come from other Wisconsin companies. New Berlin Plastics, for example, makes the cases for the balance device.

So far, we have raised $11 million from investors, most of whom are from Wisconsin, and $6 million in federal grants.

We will need to raise at least $5 million more to launch the balance device and complete development of the vision device. We may spin off the vision device as its own business. Investors may have a specific interest in that.

For the future, the most likely scenario is that we will be acquired by a medical technology company. As a small company, we can do the best job of engineering the products and validating their use. A large company would be in a better position to market them and obtain approval for reimbursement by the government or insurance companies. They can reach the maximum number of people only if the payers pay for them.

ROBERT BECKMAN

President and chief executive of Wicab (pronounced WEE-cob)

Address: 8476 Greenway Blvd., Middleton

Web site: www.wicab.com

Founded: 1998 by the late UW-Madison professor Paul Bach-y-Rita and Mitchell Tyler

Age: 54

Education: Bachelor of Science in accounting from Lewis University, Lockport, Ill.

Past employment: Certified public accountant with KPMG, Chicago: vice president and chief financial officer for Lunar Corp., Madison, and later for the former Bone Care International, Middleton

Products: BrainPort balance and vision devices, using electronic signals to the tongue to help people regain balance and "see" images

Employees: 20

Annual revenue: Under $1 million from sales. The company also has raised $11 million from investors and $6 million in federal grants.