Instead of using eye implants in laboratory conditions, Spanish scientists have this time examined and tested brain implants so that blind people can use them to view images.
While there is a technology called ocular implants that allow blind people to see simple patterns, Spanish scientists have recently taken a different approach to helping blind people see comprehensible images instead of ocular implants by directly stimulating the visual cortex of the brain.
This test system has an artificial retina that is mounted on a regular pair of glasses. The device detects light from the field of view in front of the glasses and converts it into electrical signals that are transmitted to a 96-micro array of 96 electrodes embedded in the user's brain.
The width of this implant is only 4 mm and the length of each of its small electrodes is 1.5 mm. By penetrating into the brain, they stimulate the electrical activity of cortical neurons. This stimulation allows the individual to understand the light patterns transmitted by the artificial retina.
Last year, a 1,000-electrode version of the device was tested on animals, which was successful. Recently, a team of researchers from Miguel Hernandez University in Spain tested a copy of the device on a 57-year-old woman who had been blind for more than 16 years. After a training course in which he learned to interpret the images produced by the device, he was able to identify the letters and ghosts of specific objects.
The important point is that this device does not affect the function of the cerebral cortex and also does not stimulate adjacent non-target neurons. Also, the device requires much less electrical current than similar electrode arrays located on the surface of the brain. This makes it safer to use. This device was removed six months after planting.
Much research still needs to be done to make this technology widely available. So scientists are trying to test this technology on more human samples.
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