Bionic Eye

The research on restoring partial vision to totally blind person was presented at Neuroscience 2009, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.

Study focused on 15 blind participants who had the implant for at least three months, 10 of the patients subsequently tested were able to identify the direction of moving objects.

In this amazing technology, a new artificial retina, an array of electrodes implanted on the back of the eye to restore partial vision to totally blind people.

An ultra-thin wire strengthens the damaged optic nerve; its purpose is to transmit light and images to the brain’s vision system, where it is normally processed. Other than the implanted chip and wire, most of the device sits outside the eye. The users would need to wear special eye glasses containing a tiny battery-powered camera and a transmitter, which would send images to the chip implanted behind the retina. The new device is expected to be quite durable, since the chip is enclosed in a titanium casing, making it both water-proof and corrosion-proof. The researchers estimate that the device will last for at least 10 years inside the eye.

The scientists explain that the bionic eye will be affective for individuals who once had sight, since their brain knows how to process visual information. The unfortunate people who were born blind do not have the neurological capability to process the data received via the wire. Furthermore, the optic nerve must be at least partly functional. Otherwise, the data will not be fully processed. For many individuals that were born blind, this is a problem as well, since their optic nerve has never been used. However, most of these individuals have a natural compensation mechanism, in the form of enhanced senses, such as hearing and touch.