Enjoy beautiful world with stimulating sight
Published: May 18, 2010Inspired by the success of cochlear implants that can restore hearing to some
deaf people, Massachusetts of Institute Technology (MIT) researchers are
working on a retinal implant that could one day help blind people regain a
useful level of vision. The eye implant is designed for people who have lost
their vision from retinitis pigmentosa, or age-related macular degeneration -
two of the leading causes of blindness.
Patients who received the implant would wear a pair of glasses with a camera
that sends images to a microchip attached to the eyeball. When the microchip
receives visual information, it activates electrodes that stimulate nerve
cells in the areas of the retina corresponding to the features of the visual
scene. The electrodes directly activate optical nerves that carry signals to
the brain, bypassing the damaged layers of the retina.
The chip would not restore normal vision but it could help blind people more
easily navigate a room or walk down a sidewalk. “Anything that could help
them see a little better and let them identify objects and move around a room
would be an enormous help,” says Shawn Kelly, a researcher in MIT’s Research
Laboratory for Electronics and member of the Boston Retinal Implant Project.
The team will begin testing a prototype implant within the next three years.
Read the entire article at:
Simulating Sight
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/microchip-blind-092309.html
Links:
Boston Retinal Implant Project
http://www.bostonretinalimplant.org/
Shawn Kelly
http://web.mit.edu/skkelly/www/
Retinal Implant Project
http://www.rle.mit.edu/rleonline/ProgressReports/2104_17.pdf
John Wyatt
http://www.rle.mit.edu/rleonline/People/JohnL.Wyatt.html
New Bionic Eye Could Restore Sight
http://thefutureofthings.com/news/1152/new-bionic-eye-could-restore-sight.html
Latest MIT retinal implant to see human trials by 2013
http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=1785
