This is not science fiction. While the “vision” offered by the Alpha IMS probably isn’t as good as regular human sight (yet), it does allow these previously blind patients to see again. The prosthesis, a grid of 1500 electrodes, is implanted underneath the retina, offering higher resolution and taking advantage of the middle layer of the retina that handles motion and contrast. Wires then run to a chip (powered by a battery pack in the patient’s pocket) implanted on the vision-processing part of the brain. And boom, you have vision.

Of course, this kind of vision restoration only works if the vision-processing part of the brain is still intact and the original loss of vision was due to some disease of the retina, like retinitis pigmentosa. Given what we’ve been able to learn from the infrared-seeing rat experiment, it’s not that far-fetched that a future version of the Alpha IMS gains not only higher resolution, but also the ability to see beyond what we consider to the visible spectrum.

If you’re interested in learning more, the original scientific journal article is available via open access on the Royal Society Publishing website.

[Source]

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Modern advances in science have helped many people overcome their disabilities. If your sense of hearing is going, a hearing aid can help. If you’re near-sighted, you can get glasses, contact lenses, or laser eye surgery. But what if you are completely blind? Is there a solution for that? Designer Xu Guang-suo sure thinks so and that’s how he came up with the Navigation Glasses for the Blind.

In a sense, it allows people who are blind to “literally visualize their surroundings.” This doesn’t mean that they’ll be able to see in the conventional sense, however. Instead, the Navigation Glasses are outfitted with sensors that pick up elements in the environment and then this information is fed back in the form of auditory cues to the user.

You could say that it is like a form of sonar, allowing the user to interpret the world around them in the form of reflected sound. The range appears to be beyond 180-degrees, offering a good sense of peripheral “vision.” The problem is that Xu Guang-suo hasn’t indicated at all how this would really work and how the person would be able to understand the auditory signals. One day, perhaps. One day.

[Source]

The post Prototype Glasses Provide Over 180-Degree Vision to the Blind? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Four years ago, the University of Montreal made ABC headlines while testing the “BrainPort vision” device. In the study, a blind volunteer strapped what appeared to be a webcam mounted on safety glasses to his forehead and slipped a small electrical grid on a wide, flat orange tether into his mouth – and used his tongue to see.

Though only a crude prototype at the time, the subject was able to sense out-of-reach objects and obstacles for the first time in his life.

The system works by substituting one of the five senses (in this case, vision) for another. Using the electrical grid on the tongue and the camera on the forehead, says the group’s website, the device sends electrical impulses that feel as if somebody is “painting on the tongue with champagne bubbles.” With the high density of nerve endings on the surface of the tongue, users are able to make out shapes, movement and location.

And the strangest part of it is, brain scans of those using the BrainPort show that it actually activates the vision regions of the brain – meaning the feelings on the tongue are being translated to images by the mind’s eye.

Since that day in 2006, the BrainPort team at Wicab Inc. continue making progress and refining the gadget. The camera is smaller, now located on the bridge of a pair of shades, with the “tongue display” on a cord that loops down behind the ear and around into the mouth. The resolution of the tongue display has greatly improved, too, according to Wicab.

“Today’s prototypes have 400 to 600 points of information on a ~3cm x 3cm tongue display, presented at approximately 30 frames per second,” reads their website. “Our research suggests that the tongue is capable of resolving much higher resolution information and we are currently working to develop the optimal tongue display hardware and software.”

Though the BrainPort isn’t approved for public sale yet, testing continues – and research funding keeps pouring in. In October, the company announced it’s received $3.2 million to continue evolving and improving its visual prosthetic.

[BrainPort Technologies]

The post The sweet taste of vision for the blind appeared first on Mobile Magazine.