[Nfbf-l] Dear Friends, Appended is another ISVER 2013 abstract, Seeing with Sound - The vOICe

[Alan Dicey]

Dear Friends,

Appended is another ISVER 2013 abstract, by Lior Reich and Amir Amedi.
Seeing with Sound - The vOICe
http://www.seeingwithsound.com/winvoice.htm

Visual parsing using visual-to-auditory sensory-substitution vs. medically restored sight in early blind individuals.
Purpose: 
Individuals who had limited visual experience during development, and regained sight medically in adulthood, demonstrated that functional vision acquisition in adults is challenging. While dorsal stream functions recovered relatively fast, many ventral stream functions were impaired even years after the restoration.
For instance, a recent study by Ostrovsky and colleagues (PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE, 2009) reported poor behavior in static visual parsing (i.e. the segregation of the visual scene into distinct objects). An alternative rehabilitation approach is to use non-invasive Sensory Substitution Devices (SSDs), which transform visual images into sounds while preserving the spatial topography of the image, thus theoretically enabling the blind to 'see' (though without qualia) using their intact auditory system. Many visual abilities were demonstrated using SSD, however no one tested 'visual' parsing with SSD, which is a critical ability for their use as practical daily aids. Here we: (1) tested whether congenitally and fully blind adults can learn to perform a complex ventral visual task such as parsing using SSD. (2) Compared the SSD users' performance to that of sight restored individuals.
Methods: 
We replicated the static visual parsing test of Ostrovsky et al., using similar stimuli and tasks, but this time with the visual in formation delivered through SSD.
Results: 
Our congenitally blind subjects performed well above chance-level. Interestingly, they outperformed the individuals who regained sight in all tasks tested, although they experienced 'vision' through the SSD for only ~ 70 hours, compared to months of real vision in the sight-restored patients.
Conclusions: 
On a theoretical note, the results demonstrate that even the adult brain retains massive capacity for visual learning; and suggests that with adequate training and technologies high-order vision can be acquired, at least to some extent, in adulthood, despite visual deprivation during so-called developmental critical periods. Practically, the results support the potential use of SSDs as standalone aids for the blind in daily life, but also suggest a great potential for a synergic combination of SSDs and invasive restoration approaches to improve rehabilitation. We also suggest that invasive restoration might benefit from integration with SSD training before or after surgery.

Source URL: 
http://isver.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ISVER-2013-Program-Abstracts-Book.pdf

With Best Regards,

Alan

Miami, Florida

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