A PC, camera and semi-conductor cures blindness

CLEVER JAPANESE boffins have made a massive breakthrough in curing blindness using IT. In fact, the IT solution is one hell of a spec.

They've created an artificial vision system out of semiconductors, a pair of sunglasses, a built-in camera that captures images of whatever's in front of the wearer, an attached computer that converts them into digital signals, and a 4 mm square electrode plate implanted in the eye to stimulate the optic nerve.

Must be a bit uncomfortable wearing all that lot. Still, it's worth it if
it restores the gift of sight to the blind.

When the signal reaches the brain, the patient "is able to 'see' again," Motoki Ozawa, VP of ophthalmological equipment maker Nidek, told WWW.Nikkei.net (needs a subscription)

Presumably, the patients first words would be, "Can you get all these gadgets out my face, I can't see a thing."

A surgical procedure will be scheduled this year at Osaka University to implant the system in a subject's eye. This will be a third-generation plate of 49 electrodes, a major improvement on nine in the previous prototype. Each electrode works like a pixel in digital photography. So hopefully the revamp will bring a substantial improvement in image quality.

These artificial eyes are for people blinded by diabetes, when the retina loses the ability to convert light to electrical signals. A 2005 Osaka University experiment confirmed that patients with the second-generation Nidek system implanted in their eyes could perceive light. This time the research team will look more closely at the specific performance of the system.

Hats off to the splendid work by researchers led by Professor Yasuo Tano at the Osaka University Medical School and Professor Jun Ota at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology. µ