[Nfb-announce] [BVALAG#339] Research Study for Blinded Veterans

Jeanine Lineback jlineback at austin.rr.com
Mon Apr 5 23:47:17 UTC 2010


See the below information about a research study for blinded veterans that I
have been asked to pass along.
April 5, 2010

For all BVA members and key contacts, this information is about a research
trial for Brain Port which is being tested in blind individuals with no
vision to light or dark perception. The device is not for those with legal
blindness of 20/200 vision, for now, it is being tested in those with no
visual perception to light or darkness.

Five initial volunteers were recently war blinded Iraq and Afghanistan
veterans who participated in early trial of the device.

 

Subject: BrainPort Study 
Date: Thursday, March 25, 2010  
BrainPort Vision 
For those who are blind, the non-surgical BrainPort vision device is an
investigational assistive device for orientation, mobility, object
identification and spot reading. It enables perception of visual information
using the tongue and camera system as a paired substitute for the eye.
Visual information is collected from a video camera and translated into
gentle electrical stimulation patterns on the surface of the tongue. Users
describe it as pictures drawn on their tongue with champagne bubbles. With
training users may perceive shape, size, location and motion of objects in
their environment. The BrainPort vision device is intended to augment rather
than replace other assistive technology such as the white cane or guide dog.

Research studies are conducted under Institutional Review Board approved
protocols and with participant consents. Substantially all research
completed to date has been funded by the National Eye Institute of the NIH.


We communicated by email the beginning of this year regarding recruitment
for the BrainPort. We are going to start recruiting for the study. We can
only schedule a couple of participants a month and we are taking names to
put on the registry. 

Please spread the word to veterans for the study. Although I am just taking
names and information, I would appreciate it if you would forward my email
or phone number to any Vet that would be interested. 
Thanks and have a great day, 

Gail L. Engleka 
Clinical Research Coordinator 
412-383-9033 
Fax 412-648-7490 

Tom Zampieri
TZampieri at bva.org
Blinded Veterans Association

Washington, DC

 

-- 
BVA's Legislative Alerts Group


 

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