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

Todor Fassl fassl.tod at gmail.com
Fri Jan 11 14:59:09 UTC 2013


When you reply that way, it implies that you are ssaying that people should 
be happy with who they are instead of jumping through all these hoops to get 
some vision. You may not have intended to say that but that's the way it 
comes off. I mean, that's just the way people are going to take it. It may 
just be a communication problem. Did you intend to say that blind people 
should be happy being who they are rather than going through all this stuff 
to get some limited vision?



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gloria Whipple" <glowhi at centurylink.net>
To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 3:53 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Hebrew U scientists help blind 'see 'by activating 
their visual brain cortex


> 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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