[nfb-talk] Hebrew U scientists help blind 'see ' by activating their visual brain cortex

Constance Canode satin-bear at sbcglobal.net
Wed Jan 9 22:01:47 UTC 2013


I agree. It sounds like you would need a device feeding you musical notes forever. It seems that there would be a lot of stuff interfering with normal life. 

Constance Canode 
Sent from my I-phone 

On Jan 9, 2013, at 3:53 PM, "Gloria Whipple" <glowhi at centurylink.net> wrote:

> If those who want it, go for it@
> 
> I have been blind all of my life and my fingers still work.
> I am happy with what I have.
> 
> Gloria Whipple
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-talk [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Buddy
> Brannan
> Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 13:45
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Hebrew U scientists help blind 'see ' by activating
> their visual brain cortex
> 
> Why not? I think it's possible that such sensory substitution could be
> useful some day. I also feel fairly confident that such sensory substitution
> won't replace sight or turn blind people into sighted people. If such
> technology could be developed and implemented such that adjustment to it
> would be fairly straightforward and take relatively little time from our
> otherwise productive and busy lives, what objection do you have? 
> --
> Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
> Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY
> 
> 
> 
> On Jan 9, 2013, at 4:36 PM, Gloria Whipple <glowhi at centurylink.net> wrote:
> 
>> No thanks!
>> 
>> Gloria Whipple
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfb-talk [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ed Meskys
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 13:16
>> To: nfb-talk; nhblind-talk
>> Subject: [nfb-talk] Fw: Hebrew U scientists help blind 'see ' by
> activating
>> their visual brain cortex
>> 
>> To: edmeskys at roadrunner.com 
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2013 6:11 PM
>> Subject: Hebrew U scientists help blind 'see ' by activating their visual
>> brain cortex
>> 
>> 
>> Hebrew U scientists help blind 'see with eye music' 
>> By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH 
>> Jerusalem Post 01/08/2013
>> Device for sensory exchange activates visual cortex to help those born
> blind
>> describe objects, letters and words. 
>> By activating their visual brain cortex, people who were born blind can
>> describe objects and even identify letters and words, with the proper
>> stimulation and using a device for sensory exchange developed by Hebrew
>> University researchers.
>> 
>> The research team, headed by Prof. Amir Amedi of the Edmond and Lilly
> Safra
>> Center for Brain Sciences and Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada
>> and including doctoral student Ella Streim- Amit, has just published their
>> findings in the journal Neuron; a summary of their research also appeared
> in
>> the journal Science.
>> 
>> They developed a unique training program for seeing using the device,
> which
>> transfers visual information to the blind via their healthy senses.
>> 
>> The device translates pictures into tones; after a few dozen hours of
>> training, the blind from birth can identify images and put them in visual
>> categories such as faces, houses, parts of the body, ordinary objects and
>> textures.
>> 
>> They can also locate people, identify facial expressions and read letters
>> and words, thus being able to "see" enough to exceed the World Health
>> Organization minimum to be regarded as sighted.
>> 
>> Amedi said on Sunday that for decades, it is has been known that if the
>> visual cortex does not receive visual information after birth, it doesn't
>> properly develop the normal visual structure and skills, and thus visual
>> reconstruction was thought to be impossible. But when the team checked
> what
>> happens in the brains of blind people who learned to "see" via sounds,
> their
>> visual cortex functioned even though they had learned to process images
> only
>> when they reached adulthood, he said.
>> 
>> The researchers also found that the brains of the blind from birth had
>> visual preferences similar to those with normal sight when they reacted to
>> different kinds of visual stimulation. For example, the part of the brain
>> used for reading showed that in the blind, as in the sighted, there was
>> increased activity in reaction to pictures of letters and words. In
>> addition, this region proved to be so flexible that one of the blind
> people
>> tested was able to react to such images after a two-hour training session.
>> 
>> "The brain of adults is more flexible that what we assumed," Amedi said.
>> 
>> "These findings show it may be that the brains of blind people, even for
>> long periods, can 'wake up' to process vision through rehabilitation,
>> including new medical developments such as retinal implants [artificial
>> eyes]."
>> 
>> Additional research in the field by Amedi's team with Dr. Sheli Levi-Zedek
>> that was published in the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience
>> presented a device for sensory exchange. Using it, the blind from birth
>> could cover their eyes and still carry out rapid and exact movements
> toward
>> targets. Using a non-invasive device called "eye music" involving pleasant
>> music, the blind were able to "see" with sounds.
>> 
>> In training sessions of as little as half an hour, 18 blind from birth
>> people were able to tell the difference between a red or a green apple.
>> 
>> This paves the way for future hybrid devices, including a receptor
> implanted
>> in the eye together with "eye music." 
>> ____________________________________________________________
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