Bionic vision
Emmanuel Agyapong
Senior Software Engineer(GCP) | Cloud Engineer(aws) | DevOps | AWS Certified Developer-Associate (03/2021) | Mathematics with Economics Graduate
Due to efforts from the study of bionic vision system, 5 people previously suffering from age-related macular degeneration are now able to regain some of their sight. In practise, the age-related macular degeneration is known to be the leading cause of severe vision loss and legal blindness among people over the age of 65 across Europe and America.
The research was conducted by a French based company-Pixium vision, who achieved this phenomenon by designing a device consisting of a miniaturised wireless sub-retinal implant and augmented reality glasses. These devices have the function of powering a 2mm diameter photovoltaic chip, through transmitted a pulsed beam of near infrared light. As the light contains images captured by a mini-camera on the glasses, they also act as a signal.
The chief technology officer at Pixium vision known as Guillaume Buc, stated that the procedure involves targeting diseases whereby the photoreceptors of the retina which is responsible for receiving light and then converting it into initial signal for the brain may have died. In such a case, the idea for their design is to replace the photoreceptors functions through method of electrical stimulation using an implanted prosthesis.
In more detail, the 2mm diameter photovoltaic chip which contains 378 electrodes are implanted underneath the retina which is comparable to an array of solar panels. Its important to note that, the 5 patient under study possessed no central vision at the beginning of the trial, however the end of the trial saw a manifestation of patients being able to identify letters with some going on further to identify sequences of letters.
This technological breakthrough is of immense importance for reasons that, when the photoreceptors die in those aged 65 and above, tasks that are linked to reading and recognition of faces are dramatically affected, making it difficult for individuals to perform their daily tasks.
Reference
Author-Helen Knight
Article title:Bionic vision system restores sight in AMD trials | The Engineer
Website title:The Engineer
?URL:https://www.theengineer.co.uk/amd-bionic-vision-system/