Ophthalmologists, Physicists Design Bionic Eye

InfallibleLies writes "For the first time ever, those who have been blind since birth will have a chance to see the world. It's still in the early stages, but this is a giant leap forward in medical science." From the linked BBC article: "U.S scientists have designed a bionic eye to allow blind people to see again. It comprises a computer chip that sits in the back of the individual's eye, linked up to a mini video camera built into glasses that they wear. Images captured by the camera are beamed to the chip, which translates them into impulses that the brain can interpret."

Not for those who have been blind since birth...

[SkOink]

If I recall correctly, people who have been blind their whole lives can never really 'learn' to see, after age 3 or so. At least, not on anywhere near the same level that people can see naturally, even assuming that they had an absolutely perfect prothesis. Who this will benefit are people who have went blind at some point during their adult life due to injury, glaucoma, diabetes (yes, it can make you go blind), drinking too much rubbing alcohol, or something similar.

Re:From birth?

[SirSlud]

Why not? Does being blind from birth imply a brain problem, or just a problem with the data collection device?

Or is it that not seeing the inside of the womb for 9 months damages your ability to process visual images for the rest of your life? Seems like a pretty big stretch to me.

Is it retina problems only

[slobber]

It sounds like their chip is hooked up to the optical nerve, not directly into brain, so while it might help people with macular degeneration it won't do much for cases when optical nerve is damaged (like glaucoma). I hope I am wrong though.

A little goes a long way

[EmbeddedJanitor]

I once saw a recognisable picture of old Abe Lincoln in approx 16x16 pixels IIRC. This is not enough for pron or to driving etc, but is probably enough to make a vast difference to a blind person's life: being able to see some of the local environment can help a lot eg:Where's the coffee cup on the table? Where's the phone? Is the door open/shut? Am I about to fall in a hole? Is the lid up or down when I go for a pee?

where it's all heading.....

[rodgster]

A human brain encased in a robot running linux?

Re:Mental imaging

[Eternally optimistic]

Probably it's like seeing a science fiction movie after you have read the book.

Re:Not exactly true . . .

[SteelV]

Yes, but if there is a BABY blind from birth they can give them these artificial eyes, and let them see *from birth*. Yes, it won't help people who are already older and blind from birth, but in the future there is a potential of no one ever being blind, is there not?

Re:Resolution...

[erroneus]

Just to add a little perspective on this:

Remember the first time you played pong? (if you're old enough) or the first time you played the Atari 2600? They were both wonders of modern technology and quite amazing... with the next step "light years" ahead of the last.

I think the same can be expected here. Trouble is, the human brain can't be mapped with a great deal of certainty and when someone is blind from birth, there are going to be few if any pathways for that information to flow. It is nothing short of an amazing discovery that the brain's pathways are dynamic and continually updating. So to find that it is adapting and assimilating alien signals is nothing short of miraculous in my opinion.

Not only is this a way for the blind to see, it's a way that our bodies can live in artificial bodies... and if we can learn to regenerate brain tissue, live forever.

correlary in Choclear implants

[bigattichouse]

I was an interpreter for some time, and learned one magic thing about implants adding abilities missing from birth or from accidents... it only works to the degree that the person accepts the information. If the blind person (from birth) *WANTED*, they would most definitely train their brain to use the data. maybe not perfectly, but they would have some sight. I knew deaf people who WANTED to hear with their implant, and could quite well after a few years of training.. others who never did get the hang of it. Its like trying to train someone to smell music... if some device provided the input, and you really wanted it, you'd learn. with much dammit and aggrivation, but you'd do it.

Re:Nonvisible wavelenghts?

[Nebu]

There's no need for it to be translated into "false color". The brain would interpret infrared exactly as it would interpret any other color. What would infrared look like to someone using this chip? Well, that would be like describing what red looks like to someone who is blind.

Re:Nonvisible wavelenghts?

[dnoyeb]

Why would it be false? Our brains are capable of using the spectrum info, its our eyes that don't provide it.

Re:From birth?

[Vorondil28]

The thing is: It depends on having a viable set of optic nerves, etc'. Most people that (effectively) haven't had sight all their lives have functioning eyes (and in some cases even retinas) but due to infection during infancy, genetic defect, etc', either their optic nerves or parts of the brain are non-functional. (Case in point: Helen Kellar had meningitis as an infant and lost her hearing and sight before she was two years old.)

Consequently, the article has no mention of people "blind from birth" (as the original post suggests). This will, however, greatly benefit the folks that incurred eye damage as a result of an accident, age, and so forth.

The task of "rewiring the brain" isn't as much an issue as one might think.

• There was an episode of Scientific American Frontier [pbs.org] where a test subject was blindfolded and asked to interpret symbols (braille) by touch. The sight-area of the brain took on the task of interpreting the symbols (since it's used often for reading, etc') only after a few days without sight.
• Adults learning to play music. I started piano lessons when I was starting high school and I suffer from some of the road-blocks of a late-starter. Nonetheless, I can do it.

The brain is an amazing, dynamic machine. If there's one hard and fast rule about it, it's that it has no hard and fast rules.

Re:Not exactly true . . .

[jtcm]

Yes, but if there is a BABY blind from birth they can give them these artificial eyes, and let them see *from birth*. Yes, it won't help people who are already older and blind from birth, but in the future there is a potential of no one ever being blind, is there not?

I was about to mod you as "insightful" (...and you deserve it!), but instead I felt to need to respond.

I _can_ see a future where no one is blind from birth, but not anytime soon.

A baby grows at an enourmous rate, doubling in size every so-many months. Granted, the skull and brain do not grow in size at nearly the same rate; but my point remains valid. Will the chip that interfaces with the child's retina and/or optic nerve be able to adapt to a changing eye size? (For those about to reply that babies' eyes are already full-size, see this [madsci.org]. Yes, I had to look it up myself 'cause urban legend says otherwise ;-)

Can the "bionic eye" adapt to eye growth? My intuition says "no". If my intuition is correct, then the child would require repeated surgeries over the course of childhood, and probably adolesence.

To replace or repair a child's eyes at birth (I think) requires a more "elegant" technology...a technology out of reach of current and near-future science. Of course, perhaps some non-computer-like biotechnology is the answer. Stem cells come to mind, as they can supposedly be coaxed into forming any type of body tissue.

Note: I have worked with and spent a great deal of time with many blind adults. Most lead a very happy and normal life, and they will surprise you with how much they truely "see".

Regards,
jtcm

Re:Nonvisible wavelenghts?

[Vengeance_au]

However, if they were to use the chip to translate infared (or thermal, or anything else we can currently view with instramentation) into colours, they COULD see in that wavelength. Same as how infared goggles work - translate the wavelength into a "visible" wavelength.

Re:Nonvisible wavelenghts?

[Corpus_Callosum]

Not really. It appears that this chip stimulates the layer of nerves below the retina. Thus, it can only stimulate what you can normally see: Red, green, and blue (and light/dark with the rods). No chip that stimulates the nerves under the retina can make us see anything that our eye can't normally see. There's no undocumented "infrared nerve" that would allow us to see something unique from our normal vision if it were stimulated.

I think the parent post's point was that color is an artifact of neural response to external stimuli. Change the stimuli to something new and the patterns that the brain will adapt to interpret the new stimuli will be as different as vision is from non-vision. I believe this is true and will probably be the case with this type of cyborg vision regardless of the frequency response. The technology simply will not stimulate the nerves in the same way that a working eye would. The result is that vision and visual perception will be very different for those with cyborg eyes.

Red does not exist in the nerves; It is a learned pattern that results from red-cone nerve stimulation (which will not exist with this system).