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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First, they trained the rats to respond to a series of LED lights inside of a test chamber. When the light turns on, they learn to scurry toward that light and they are rewarded with a treat. Then, they implanted “an array of tiny stimulating electrodes into the touch-sensing part” of the rat’s brain. These electrodes were then connected to an infrared sensor, which was surgically attached to the rat’s foreheads so that it can react in the direction that the rat is facing.

After replacing the LED lights with infrared lights in the test chamber, they ran through the same kind of trial. Initially, the rats would just scratch their faces, as if something were touching their whiskers. This makes sense, as the “touch-sensing part” of the brain was being activated. Over the course of the next few weeks, though, the rats started to learn how to react to those infrared lights, doing the same thing they did when there were LED lights: they ran toward the “reward port” where the infrared light turned on and got their treat. In effect, the rats gained crude infrared vision.

What’s interesting is that the relevant neurons never lost their initial capabilities; they still responded to touch and the rats could still feel their whiskers. It just so happened that the same part of the brain gained the new function of “seeing” infrared light. Now, you can see how this can be expanded to just about any other stimuli, like “magnetic fields, radio waves or ultrasound,” as described by principal investigator Miguel Nicolelis. And then it’s only a matter of time before us humans get access to these implants and augmented abilities.

This isn’t just about creating people with superpowers. It could be adapted to “restore” vision to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and so much more. Further testing is certainly required, but this is a fascinating new arena for science.

[Source]

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A modified version of the Argus II vision prosthesis from Second Sight has now been developed that can translate written words into a visual representation of Braille, straight into the person’s eyes. The Argus II is implanted over a person’s retina and provides a “display” of an 10×6 grid. Since Braille uses a 3×2 grid, translating single letters–in real time, no less–isn’t all that difficult.

The original purpose of the Argus II was just to give the person a (very) pixelated view of the world, differentiating between light and dark, and sometimes making out features like doorways. With this “Braille mode” turned on, the person is able to read signs and other text around them. A volunteer who was already using Argus II was able to read letters at a rate of about one a second, being accurate 89% of the time.

No, this is nowhere as fast as real Braille–the typical Braille users can read up to 800 letters per minute by touch–but it could prove to be a fascinating innovation for the blind community.

[Source]

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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]

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