{"id":1893,"date":"2021-12-07T09:21:57","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T09:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=1893"},"modified":"2021-12-07T09:21:57","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T09:21:57","slug":"vision-tech-developments-give-a-glimpse-of-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1893\/vision-tech-developments-give-a-glimpse-of-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Vision tech developments give a glimpse of the future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Advances in assistive technology have removed many access barriers for people with vision loss. But it\u2019s the development of visual prosthesis that has the potential to offer a whole new way of \u2018seeing\u2019 the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The incredibly complex structure of the human eye \u2013 with more than two million interacting parts \u2013 makes restoring someone\u2019s sight a formidable challenge. But it\u2019s not an impossible one, as the bionic eye, or visual prosthesis, to use the medical term, featured for decades in sci-fi fantasy films and TV shows, is now a reality.<\/p>\n

\u2018Enabling a patient to see again is our dream. A dream that we believe can come true,\u2019 said Serge Picaud, director at Institut de\u00a0la Vision, a leading research centre on eye diseases in Paris, France.<\/p>\n

As a world leader in the development \u00a0of prostheses concerning the retina (a layer of cells at the back of the eyeball and which are sensitive to light), Picaud is coordinating\u00a0ENTRAIN VISION<\/a>, a network of experts from all key disciplines related to visual restoration \u2013 from neuroscience and engineering to pathology and machine learning. Together with 15 early-stage researchers, they are working on novel technologies for restoring patients\u2019 vision.<\/p>\n

\u2018It may sound a little like science fiction,\u2019 said Picaud, describing the prostheses at the retinal and cortical level (cerebral cortex or outermost layer of the brain).<\/p>\n

\u2018Currently, there are no commercial cortical prostheses, so this research provides a major opportunity to develop them, and we have a team working on this,\u2019 he explained.<\/p>\n

For millions of patients who are losing their sight or are already blind due to a damaged connection between the retina and visual cortex, a cortical prothesis is the only option.<\/p>\n

Seeing is believing<\/strong><\/p>\n

The idea to electrically stimulate the human visual system is not new \u2013 it was first described more than 200 years ago. But rapid advances in neural engineering and micro-electronics have paved the way for more advanced cortically-based visual prosthetic devices.<\/p>\n

\u2018The idea is to use a type of electronic device to electrically stimulate the remaining nerve cells. So, after having lost part of the \u201ccircuit\u201d, you replace it with an electronic device,\u2019 said Picaud.<\/p>\n

One of the ENTRAIN VISION partners recently implanted a microelectrode array composed of 100 microneedles into the visual cortex of a blind woman. With the implant, she was able to identify lines, shapes and simple letters. \u2018These results are very exciting because they demonstrate both the safety and efficacy of this technology and can help to achieve a long-held dream of many scientists: to transfer information from the outside world directly to the visual cortex of blind individuals, restoring a rudimentary form of sight,\u2019 explained Picaud. \u2018This work is likely to become a milestone for the development of new technologies that could help to transform the treatment of blindness. However, more studies are still needed.\u2019<\/p>\n

The use of electrostimulation to recover an individual\u2019s sight is just one novel approach being studied, but there are others.<\/p>\n

Developed in the 2000s, optogenetics is a biological technique that uses light to controls nerve cells or other cell types.<\/p>\n

\u2018There is already one patient in France who can see using this,\u2019 highlighted Picaud.<\/p>\n

The patient Picaud refers to was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa, which affects more than two million people worldwide destroying their retinal photoreceptors. Thanks to groundbreaking research with Gensight Biologics, the patient\u2019s sight has been partially restored using light-sensing proteins first found in algae.<\/p>\n

The third exciting technology that researchers have set their sights on is virtual reality.<\/p>\n

\u2018In Paris we have a setting like a movie theatre (Streetlab) where we can test a patient\u2019s vision,\u2019 explained Picaud. \u2018It could be, for example, a room full of obstacles. So, once the patient has a device implanted, we can test it using this platform. However, it\u2019s not easy to validate a device in other centres outside of Paris, because the platform cannot be easily recreated elsewhere due to its size. This is where virtual reality steps in.\u2019<\/p>\n

For instance, a virtual reality headset can allow users anywhere in the world to experience the same conditions as those in the Paris theatre. \u2018It can also help us understand what the most important parts of an image are for a patient so that they can recognise their friends or ways to move about a room,\u2019 added Picaud.<\/p>\n

Such technologies will help people suffering from loss of sight to regain their independence. But what happens if both sight and hearing \u2013 our two most important senses \u2013 are severely impaired?<\/p>\n

Solutions for life without light and sound<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the millions of people who live with deafblindness, the sense of touch is central for perceiving and interacting with the world.<\/p>\n

\u2018Being informed and able to communicate are central to everything we do, but you cannot interact with your environment if you are unable to gain information about it or communicate with people and your surroundings. So, we focused on improving communication for people with deafblindness,\u2019 noted Nasrine Olson, senior lecturer at the University of Bor\u00e5s and coordinator of the\u00a0SUITCEYES<\/a>\u00a0project.<\/p>\n

The result was a smart, tactile interface that extends the perception and spatial orientation of the user, making it possible for them to interact with others. The technology was nominated for an\u00a0Innovation Radar Prize<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Capturing the environment using computer vision<\/strong><\/p>\n

Describing the ins and outs of the technology, Olson said: \u2018First, our \u201chaptic intelligent personalised interface\u201d also known as HIPI\u00a0captures the environment<\/a>\u00a0using computer vision and sensor technologies. The camera, sensors and computer vision algorithms collectively detect and recognise objects, scenes and faces. An object can be \u201ca chair\u201d or \u201ca cup\u201d, a scene can be \u201ca corridor\u201d or \u201can office\u201d or \u201ca bathroom\u201d. The system also detects faces and whether they are known to the user or not. The sensor technologies also observe the distance between things.\u2019 If the user is looking for their cup of coffee, for example, the HIPI will observe that it is on a table three metres away, to the left of the user.<\/p>\n

Once the platform has all of this information, what does it do with it? How do we communicate this information to the person who needs it? \u2018We have created haptograms, for conveying messages to the users. A haptogram is basically a haptic pattern that carries a meaning, for example \u201chappy\u201d to the user. It does this by using vibro-tactile actuators, which are small electronic devices that vibrate. They can be placed on different parts of the body,\u2019 explained Olson.<\/p>\n

Various prototypes have been developed that integrate the technology into clothing. \u2018This includes a range of vests, as well as a dress to show how the technology can be worn while looking fashionable,\u2019 said Olson. There\u2019s also a version called \u201cchairable\u201d that can be mounted onto the back of an office chair to convey messages to the person seated.<\/p>\n

The possibility of smart wearables and soft interfaces that enable people with deafblindness to obtain information about the environment will facilitate independent living. The project even added a Covid-19 feature that allows facial recognition with masks.<\/p>\n

New features include the ability to send the same haptic information to multiple people at the same time, whether close-by or across long distances.<\/p>\n

\u2018This was tested by our colleagues in the Netherlands by sending haptic messages to colleagues in Germany,\u2019 said Olson. But what\u2019s truly unique about the project is its holistic approach that included extensive user and policy studies, network building, technological innovations and gamification for enriched user experience and learning possibilities.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s likely to be some time before the benefits of this technological breakthrough are widely experienced, the future prospects are exciting. In the meantime, researchers continue to envision a future where sight can be restored.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advances in assistive technology have removed many access barriers for people with vision loss. But it\u2019s the development of visual prosthesis that has the potential to offer a whole new way of \u2018seeing\u2019 the world. The incredibly complex structure of the human eye \u2013 with more than two million interacting parts \u2013 makes restoring someone\u2019s … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":1894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nVision tech developments give a glimpse of the future - Horizon Magazine Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/1893\/vision-tech-developments-give-a-glimpse-of-the-future\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vision tech developments give a glimpse of the future\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Advances in assistive technology have removed many access barriers for people with vision loss. 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