[nfb-talk] Fw: Implanted chip 'allows blind peopleto detectobjects'

Thu Nov 4 18:00:23 UTC 2010

I'm not sure I understand you. Are you saying that if you are well adjusted 
to being blind, you wouldn't want a chip to allow you to see?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ray Foret Jr" <rforetjr at att.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 11:14 AM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Fw: Implanted chip 'allows blind peopleto 
detectobjects'

> Nope.  My brain's just fine like it is.
> Honestly, if one adjusts to blindness, why would one want such a thing? 
> IF not well adjusted, then I suppose one might want such a thing.  but, 
> what with the programs we have in place, one would think such a chip 
> undesirable.
>
>
> Sincerely,
> The Constantly Barefooted Ray!!!
>
> Now A Very Proud and very happy Mac user!!!
>
> Skype Name:
> barefootedray
>
> On Nov 4, 2010, at 10:35 AM, Gloria Whipple wrote:
>
>> Have no desires for that.
>>
>>
>> Gloria Whipple
>>
>> cell number: 509-475-4993
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Jennifer Aberdeen
>> Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 5:30 AM
>> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Fw: Implanted chip 'allows blind people to
>> detectobjects'
>>
>> Thank God!
>>
>> This is great news!
>> ____________________________________________________________________________
>> _______________________
>> Shop my store for the latest and greatest in beauty and wellness 
>> products!
>> www.youravon.com/jaberdeen
>>
>> Get paid to read email!
>> http://www.sendearnings.com/?r=ref1487633
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Kenneth Chrane" <kenneth.chrane at verizon.net>
>> To: <CSDB-ALUMNI at googlegroups.com>
>> Cc: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 8:21 AM
>> Subject: [nfb-talk] Fw: Implanted chip 'allows blind people to
>> detectobjects'
>>
>>
>>> What do you think about this Article?
>>> Ken Chrane
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: Lela Behee
>>> To: venetian-blind at googlegroups.com
>>> Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 2:38 AM
>>> Subject: Implanted chip 'allows blind people to detect objects'
>>>
>>>
>>> Though this may not be helpful for those of us who have prosthetic eyes
>>> and so have no retina, what a very exciting leap forward this is in
>>> technology!
>>> Praise our Lord!!
>>>
>>>
>>> 2 November 2010 Last updated at 20:49 ET
>>> Implanted chip 'allows blind people to detect objects'
>>> By Neil Bowdler Science reporter, BBC News
>>>
>>> Miikka Terho is given the task of reading letters which together 
>>> misspell
>>> his
>>> own name
>>> A man with an inherited form of blindness has been able to identify
>>> letters and
>>> a clock face using a pioneering implant, researchers say.
>>> Miikka Terho, 46, from Finland, was fitted with an experimental chip
>>> behind his
>>> retina in Germany. Success was also reported in other patients.
>>>
>>> The chip allows a patient to detect objects with their eyes, unlike a
>>> rival
>>> approach that uses an external camera.
>>>
>>> Details of the work are in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society 
>>> B.
>>>
>>> Professor Eberhart Zrenner, of Germany's University of Tuebingen, and
>>> colleagues
>>> at private company Retina Implant AG initially tested their sub-retinal
>>> chip on
>>> 11 people.
>>> Some noticed no improvement as their condition was too advanced to 
>>> benefit
>>
>>> from
>>> the implant, but a majority were able to pick out bright objects, Prof
>>> Zrenner
>>> told the BBC.
>>>
>>> However, it was only when the chip was placed further behind the retina,
>>> in the
>>> central macular area in three people, that they achieved the best 
>>> results.
>>>
>>> Two of these had lost their vision because of the inherited condition
>>> retinitis
>>> pigmentosa, or RP, the other because of a related inherited condition
>>> called
>>> choroideraemia.
>>>
>>> RP leads to the progressive degeneration of cells in the eye's retina,
>>> resulting
>>> in night blindness, tunnel vision and then usually permanent blindness.
>>> The
>>> symptoms can begin from early childhood.
>>>
>>> The best results were achieved with Mr Terho, who was able to recognise
>>> cutlery
>>> and a mug on a table, a clock face and discern seven different shades of
>>> grey.
>>> He was also able to move around a room independently and approach 
>>> people.
>>>
>>> In further tests he read large letters set out before him, including his
>>> name,
>>> which had been deliberately misspelled. He soon noticed it had been 
>>> spelt
>>> in the
>>> same way as the Finnish racing driver Mika Hakkinnen.
>>>
>>> Three or four days after the implantation, when everything was healed, I
>>> was
>>> like wow, there's activity," he told the BBC from his home in Finland.
>>> "Right after that, if my eye hit the light, then I was able to see
>>> flashes, some
>>> activity which I hadn't had.
>>>
>>> "Then day after day when we started working with it, practising, then I
>>> started
>>> seeing better and better all the time."
>>>
>>> Soon Mr Terho was able to read letters by training his mind to bring the
>>> component lines that comprised the letters together.
>>>
>>> The prototype implant has now been removed, but he has been promised an
>>> upgraded
>>> version soon. He says it can make a difference to his life.
>>>
>>> "What I realised in those days was that it was such a great feeling to
>>> focus on
>>> something," he says.
>>>
>>> "Even having a limited ability to see with the chip, it will be good for
>>> orientation, either walking somewhere or being able to see that 
>>> something
>>> is
>>> before you even if you don't see all the tiny details of the object."
>>>
>>> Electrical impulses
>>> The chip works by converting light that enters the eye into electrical
>>> impulses
>>> which are fed into the optic nerve behind the eye.
>>>
>>> It is externally powered and in the initial study was connected to a 
>>> cable
>>
>>> which
>>> protruded from the skin behind the ear to connect with a battery.
>>>
>>> The team are now testing an upgrade in which the device is all contained
>>> beneath
>>> the skin, with power delivered though the skin via an external device 
>>> that
>>
>>> clips
>>> behind the ear.
>>>
>>> This is by no means the only approach being taken by scientists to try 
>>> to
>>> restore some visual ability to people with retinal dysfunction - what's
>>> called
>>> retinal dystrophy.
>>>
>>> A rival chip by US-based Second Sight that sits on top of the retina has
>>> already
>>> been implanted in patients, but that technique requires the patient to 
>>> be
>>> fitted
>>> with a camera fixed to a pair of glasses.
>>>
>>> Charities gave the news of the latest work a cautious welcome.
>>>
>>> David Head, of the British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society, said: "It's
>>> really
>>> fascinating work, but it doesn't restore vision. It rather gives people
>>> signals
>>> which help them to interpret."
>>>
>>> Peoria Blind Center
>>> www.peoriablindcenter.org
>>> Here is the name of the group on facebook: PeoriArea Blind People's
>>> Center.  Your friends on facebook are going to have to get on
>>> their facebook account and search for the group's name to join, or to 
>>> see
>>> what we are about.
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
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>>
>>
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