By default we know the sky is blue, the grass is green, and the sun is yellow based on the colors we see. For colorblind artist Neil Harbisson in London, U.K., he perceives color in a different way — through listening. Harbisson is able to pick up color frequencies through the “eyeborg,” a wearable device implanted into his skull that transforms colors into sound vibrations.

“Hearing colors changes the way you see everything. I started perceiving colors through sound and the eyeborg soon became part of my body,” Harbisson says in the Vimeo video “The Man Who Hears Colors, Even In His Dreams.” He added: “My body and technology have united.”

Harbisson has never been able to see color (only seeing shades of gray) before because he suffers from a visual condition called achromatopsia or total color blindness. This is a non-progressive and hereditary visual disorder which is characterized by decreased vision, light sensitivity, and the absence of color vision, says the National Institutes of Health. In the U.S. it affects about 1 in every 33,000 people.

This compelled Harbisson and cyberneticist Adam Montandon to come together to develop the electronic eye. Harbisson’s eyeborg is able to process the color frequency of the item that passes in front of it, which turns it into a sound frequency and passes the information to a chip installed at the back of his head. This is how he is then able to hear the color through the sound waves that are produce as they pass from the bones of the skill to his inner ear.

In 2012 during Harbisson’s TED Talk, he stated: "At the start, I had to memorize the names you give for each color, so I had to memorize the notes, but after some time this information became a perception. I didn't have to think about the notes, and after some time this perception became a feeling."

Now he has the ability to translate songs and speeches into colors using sound frequencies. For example, Justin Bieber's "Baby" is full of bubble gum pinks and neon yellows. Moreover, he is able to visualize colors that the human eye cannot visual such as infrared and ultraviolet colors. Harbisson says he has even started to dream in color as he hears the electronic sounds in his sleep, even if the device isn’t on.

Harbisson has been claimed to be the first recognized cyborg in the world with his passport photo now including his device. He continues to be an active in the Cyborg Foundation he founded in 2010. It’s an international organization that helps others to permanently implant technology into their bodies.

He says “people will start using technology as part of the body in order to perceive more and extend senses.”