Paralympic medals rattle for visionally impaired athletes

Cape Town - For the first time ever at a Paralympic Game, visionary impaired athletes can hear their medals.

According to the Rio 2016 website, each of the 2642 medals given to the Paralympic champions are equipped with steel balls, which allows visually impaired athletes to identify what kind of medal they have won.

The gold medal has 28 steel balls, producing the loudest noise; the silver with 20 balls, while the bronze has 16 - giving it the lowest sound.

READ: 4 visually impaired athletes beat Olympic gold time

In addition to the steel balls, each medal is inked with the words ‘Rio 2016 Paralympic Games’ in Braille.

Another new innovation at this year's Paralympic event is that the 500g medals are slightly thicker and has the name of the event engraved on the outside.

The Rio Paralympic Games end on Sunday, September 16.

A medal like no other! These Paralympic winners are listening to their medals! For the first time ever, the Paralympic Games have placed a device inside the medals that use tiny steel balls to make a sound when they are shaken, allowing visually impaired athletes to identify which type they are. The bronze medals have 16 steel balls and make the lowest sound. The silver ones have 20 balls and the golds have 28, producing the loudest noise. All of the medals also have the words 'Rio 2016 Paralympic Games' written on them in Braille. Awesome! @rio2016 @paralympics

A photo posted by The Olympic Games (@olympics) on Sep 13, 2016 at 8:10am PDT