For Neil Harbisson, a self-described 'cyborg' artist living near Barcelona, colour is quite literally music to his ears thanks to an antenna he designed to overcome colour blindness. Well-known in Spain and with an international following that enabled him to meet the likes of Leonardo di Caprio and Tom Cruise, Harbisson is now testing out a new device designed to feel physically the passing of time.

Where once the term cyborg conjured up images of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator, technology today is expanding human capacities through prostheses and implants. Born in Northern Ireland with achromatopsia, a rare condition meaning he can only see in greyscale, Harbisson moved to Barcelona as a child and grew up obsessed with colour and things he couldn't sense.

It was an obsession that saw the now 39-year-old Briton eventually go under the surgeon's knife to transform his identity and his life. While at music college in England, he developed the slim metal rod that arches over his head and vibrates according to colours it detects. At first glance, it looks like wearable technology, but it's as much a part of his body as his nose or his ears, giving him the ability to  "hear" the colour his eyes cannot see.

"Being a cyborg means technology is part of your identity," he tells AFP. "It allows me to sense colours from infrared to ultra-violet through vibrations in my head that then become sound, so I can actually hear colour."