It might sound like something out of Blade Runner.
But science is getting closer and closer to helping the blind see again without using their eyes.
Researchers are developing high-tech glasses with a built-in camera that wirelessly transmits images to the brain.
The gadget bypasses the nerves between the eyes and the brain, which is damaged in most cases of blindness.
A team of Dutch experts is testing it in Eindhoven, which has been described as the “place to be” when it comes to blindness research.
A similar technology is being promoted by legendary American musician Stevie Wonder, who lost his sight as a child.
In the last decade, amid medical advances, a multitude of experimental therapies and tools for incurable blindness have emerged.
Among those currently in the works are bionic eyes being tested in the US and UK, and a trial using the CRISPR gene-editing tool to treat genetic blindness.
This graphic representation gives you an idea of how the glasses will work in practice.
Stevie Wonder, 71, who has performed hits like “Superstition” and “Is’t She Lovely”, went blind shortly after his birth and was struck with glasses similar to those in development.
The latest glasses are being developed as part of the NESTOR project, which aims to develop a ‘neuroprosthesis’, a device that can create visual images in the brain.
A consortium of Dutch institutions, including the Eindhoven University of Technology, is working on the project.
glasses work Take pictures with an integrated camera at the push of a button.
The images are then sent wirelessly to a small chip implanted in the visual cortex of a blind person, using a combination of radio waves similar to those produced by Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology.
The process is similar to the natural signals the eyes send to this part of the brain that is part of our vision.
This part of the brain normally translates messages received from the eye into images, but researchers believe it may be possible to copy this using tiny electrodes to stimulate brain cells.
Scientists have not yet tested their implants in humans, but laboratory tests and experiments on monkeys are showing promising results.
The developers hope that their wireless model will overcome some of the shortcomings of previous implants that attach directly to the glasses, at the risk of infection.
No release date or possible cost has been announced, but comparable tech in the US will cost around £110,000 including a chip installation.
Adedayo Omisakin, a researcher at the Eindhoven University of Technology, is part of a two-person division that has been working privately on the wireless plant for four years.
By bypassing the eye and going directly to the brain, he said the technology could solve the root cause of blindness for most people with disabilities.
“Many blind people have damaged nerves between their eyes and brain, so our only option is to directly stimulate the visual cortex,” he said.
He added that wireless transmission of this data will bring many benefits to the lives of the blind.
“This not only prevents infections in the brain area, but also makes patients much more mobile,” he says.
Omisakin said the current version of the chip consists of 1,024 electrodes divided into 16 different groups that will send electrical signals to different parts of the visual cortex to create an image.
Multi-Grammy Award-winning musician Stevie Wonder has reportedly been “excited” with a version of glasses made by the company Envision, which gives the sightless more independence by taking pictures with a camera and then telling them aloud to the wearer.
Scientists hope to one day develop glasses that could help blind people see again. This type of technology was previously the domain of science fiction, as with the character Geordi La Forge (played by LeVar Burton) in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The master transmitter for the implant will be placed with wires under the skin at the back of the neck and then connected to the visual cortex.
“This way we don’t have an unnecessary loss of signal from the skull,” he said.
Through rigorous testing, scientists have managed to reduce energy consumption to less than a few milliwatts; this is thousands of times lower than the energy consumption of even an energy-saving light bulb.
Omisakin said energy consumption is a critical hurdle that needs to be overcome.
Previous attempts to implant similar chips into the brains of the blind have caused patients to have seizures when electricity is flowing through their skulls.
Researchers from the Dutch Brain Institute were also involved in the project and tested the chips on monkeys.
Omisakin added that the monkeys can recognize “characters, moving objects and lines,” but further testing is needed to see if the image quality can be improved.
“The number of electrodes will need to be increased in due course if we want to get usable quality images,” he says.
Omisakin added that he could see the technology ready for widespread use by the blind in the next decade.
Many innovations have been made in blindness devices in recent years, but none are yet widely available.
Brain implants have already been trialled in the United States in 2019 by the company Second Sight.
The resulting images were described as grainy 80s-style security footage and could only be used for a few hours a day.
However, participants said it was “wonderful” to be able to see snapshots of loved ones in real time.
It took six months for patients to adjust to the implants before they were ready to receive signals from the camera.
Claiming to have equipped more than 350 people with their devices to date, the company can now request to be equipped with the latest version of Second Sight technology.
Second Sight does not publish the cost of such devices and says it depends on a person’s individual medical condition and insurance plan, but reports suggest the cost is around £110,000 ($150,000) excluding surgery.
Another similar technology, like the one implanted in the eye of an 88-year-old British grandmother earlier this year, bypasses the brain entirely, instead placing an implant in the eye itself to help process images.
And an entirely different technology has used gene therapy to restore some or most of the vision in some blind patients through regrowth and replacement of damaged tissues in the eye.
Stevie Wonder, meanwhile, was impressed by a pair of high-tech glasses developed by Dutch start-up Envision, which he tested at a US tech show in March.
These glasses use a camera like the NESTOR projects, but instead of sending the information to the brain, an artificial intelligence program in the glasses interprets the image and tells it aloud to the user.
Source: Daily Mail
I am Anne Johnson and I work as an author at the Fashion Vibes. My main area of expertise is beauty related news, but I also have experience in covering other types of stories like entertainment, lifestyle, and health topics. With my years of experience in writing for various publications, I have built strong relationships with many industry insiders. My passion for journalism has enabled me to stay on top of the latest trends and changes in the world of beauty.
