Technology boom for visually impaired people

Advances in technology, genetics, biology, and the science of the brain are helping to restore vision to the blind.

The method of artificial retinal implantation surgery, developed by Dr. Mark S. Humayun of the University of Southern California, has helped visually impaired people to distinguish different objects, Identify large letters, see fire spots on the oven ...

Photo: The New York Times

An electrodes are implanted into the eye and the blind are wearing glasses with a tiny camera to record photos. The waist-lined waistcoat transforms the image into light-dark patterns and controls so that each of the electrodes transmits the signals that represent the outlines of the object, brightness and contrast. pulse oscillations, through the optic neurons to the brain. The images are very simple because the transplant table contains only 60 electrodes, and the visually impaired see only the spots.

The 200 and 1,000 electrodes are planned to provide high resolution enough for blind people to read, write and recognize the face. Up to now, this method has been applied to people with retinitis pigmentosa and cases of severe macular degeneration due to age.

Multivariate research is important because different techniques can help treat the causes of various blindness. Gene therapy improves vision for visually impaired people due to a rare congenital disease. The imaging of the 'electronic eye-biology' behind the retina at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the United States, is only available to visually impaired people who are still partially intact. visual perception

In addition, scientists are researching proteins that respond to light stimuli or implanted electrodes into the monkey's brain to test for direct visual stimulation in the brain that helps visually impaired people. or not.

Recently Sharron Kay Thornton, 60, of Mississippi, was blinded by a skin disease and recovered from a facial ailment after receiving a dental sting from Miami Miller University School of Medicine. This is used as the fulcrum to attach a lenticular lens to the cornea. This technique can help people who lose vision due to corneal scar caused by chemicals or fight.