The challenge of rechecking vision
Wicab is working with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's UPMC Eye Center for further testing on BrainPort. Optometrist Amy Nau will test it, along with other artificial devices such as retinal and cortical implant chips, in order to develop criteria for monitoring the progress of artificial sight.
"We can't just throw up an eye chart. We have to take a step back and describe the rudimentary precepts that these people are getting," Nau says. "The images are in black and white, pixilated. How do you recheck vision?"
Nau is particularly interested in the BrainPort because it is non-invasive, unlike implants.
The key to the device may be its utilization of the tongue, which seems to be an ideal organ for sensing electrical current. Saliva there functions as a good conductor, Seiple said. Also it might help that the tongue's nerve fibers are densely packaged and that these fibers are closer to the tongue's surface relative to other touch organs. (The surfaces of fingers, for example, are covered with a layer of dead cells called stratum corneum.)
"Many people who have acquired blindness are desperate to get their vision back," Nau says. Although sensory substitution techniques cannot fully restore sight, they do provide the information necessary for spatial orientation. Along with the blind, the BrainPort could help people with visual defects such as glaucoma, which leads to the loss of peripheral vision, and macular degeneration, which degrades sight at the center of the visual field.
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32 Comments
Add CommentI am blind. I am a member of the Blind community (uppercase intentional). I do not wish to ape the sighted by learning to ride a bicycle or seeing colors. I assume there must be other blind individuals (lowercase intentional) who do, and I hope they do not find this device awkward or demeaning. However, to those of us who are both Blind and sarcastic, this device is just another way to shut us up.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wonder if this could be of use to firefighters.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGood one.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLOL at the Sarcastic sight impared person, I dought seriously if this thing would shut my freind up. Besides it does not look demeaning at all maybe like she has her ear buds in her mouth and holding an Ipod using it like a flashlight. the glassess are not very obtrusive either.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think it would require a time to train
The plasticity and adaptability of the human mind beggars belief. Who needs miracles and messiahs to give sight to the blind when the Greatest Story Ever Told takes place everyday in our living brains!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe plasticity and adaptability of the human mind beggars belief. Who needs miracles and messiahs to give sight to the blind when the Greatest Story Ever Told takes place everyday in our living brains!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo a person that can see should be able to use this method.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would very much like them to have and artist use this with eyes closed and then draw what he saw.
Very very impressive i didn't even know anyone was doing something at this level.
Not stupid looking at all.
What a tremendous invention. I hope that people can make a free choice to use it without blowhard bigots giving them a hard time.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYeah, this is really cool. I'm not blind and I can see myself using it for other applications. Wow, enter the matrix, the matrix of CPU pixels.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThose who are intrigued by this should pick u a copy of Norman Doidge's "The Brain That Changes Itself." It has an account of Bach-y-Rita's early experiments and other therapies that use the brain's ability to reorganize itself. Great reading!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy brother has been blind since birth and is an amazingly independent business person. His intelligence is astounding and my opinion is that he would be the perfect candidate to test the Brainport. His name is Jerry Berrier and he can be reached at 508-735-4420. He is 57 years old and in perfect health. Recently retired from Bell Telephone of Massachusetts but is still active as a consultant for visually impaired people.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy mum has been totally blind for almost a year. I would be keen on having a trial of this with her. Are there any machines in Australian yet?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhatever happened to teaching blind children echo location? I heard a while back that blind children all over the states were starting to pick it up after one blind kid taught himself how to do it. I remember thinking about the superhero Dare Devil at the time, and also wouldn't it be cool if I could do that!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks for your reference paulbennett. I'm always looking for good additional reading.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBy the way there was a great Nova presentation on this recently.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIsn't it obvious that this is the type of research to which money should be devoted, rather than to ever more clever ways to kill and maim people around the world ?...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHenri
As someone dealing with the slow loss of vision from diabetic retinopathy, I find this article heartening. I realize there are many ways that the blind can retain independence, and another choice (such as this device) can only be good. I hope it's perfected soon. Definitely worth keeping up with it's progress.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan't wait to get the Ford Foundation, Gates Foundation and other well-known foundations to open their eyes and help fund Bach-y-Rita's company to help bring the cost down.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWow! What a concept! Congrats to the scientists!
I am happy that this is available. It is good to see how hard these people are working, generally unnoticed, to help humankind. It goes to show---Always have high hope for the future. Not as irrational sometimes as it seems.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCool. But the price is totally arbitrary and strictly corporate. The actual production of such a device wouldn't exceed a couple hundred US. Also, stereo (two cameras... or three) would produce an actual 3D model of the field in front of the wearer, and provide more realistic data.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisas someone that is fast losing there sight this really is an exciting and comforting discovery.im 34 and have a degenerative eye disease and will with certainty be blind within 2 years.this is a truly terrifying thought and iv spent alot of sleepless nights worrying how im going to cope and what life will be like.this gives me alot of hope. thank you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat could happen if the person with that gadget eats chili con carne or some other really spicy food? Don't affect the "vision"?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this$10k is a ridiculous price. It's a couple hundred dollars worth of electronics at most. More along the lines of a third year EE project. In fact, I might try making one myself.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think this is absolutely brilliant. If snakes can see with their tongues accurately why couldn't humans.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisim curious to know if blind people who have been diagnosed with retnitis pigmentosa can benefit from this device. My mother is blind and im interested in helping her see her children and grandchildren again. I am willing to do anything to help her. Please contact me
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismercedes1082@aol.com
can this brainport help my nephew who has been blind for 8 years? his optic nerve has died. thanks, it would be wonderful for him to see his daughter, who now is 9
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscan this brainport help my nephew who has been blind for 8 years? his optic nerve has died. thanks, it would be wonderful for him to see his daughter, who now is 9
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOMG that is so cool. In a few decades from now, if scientists perfect this, it'll be totally normal to see people walking around with weird glasses on. In fact, it would be very normal, considering that one of the last remaining factors of human evolution, domination of the seeing, would be defeated and blindness would be just short of equal to sight.Nah, maybe it ain't so cool. Humans have a very bad habit of overusing technology.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMany thanks for sharing this great and awesome information.i liked your words....<a href="http://www.gunnars.com/indoor.php">gaming eyeglasses</a>
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile a brilliant idea, I don't want to know how I taste/see or whatever the term would be. It would probably be similar to tasting pickle juice and cottage cheese.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo... If the user has a congested nose, there's a choice between breathing and seeing? Obviously breathing wins, so the common cold blinds the user for over a week?!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHey check this movie. You will change your mind. See with tongue.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdQi-HYVM1Q or see their website www.seewithtongue.info