[nfbwatlk] Seeing Machine Helps Blind See Pictures - PC World

Mon Jan 26 22:11:43 UTC 2009

It does say you must have some working retina left.

Dave

At 03:11 PM 1/26/2009, you wrote:
>I'm confused. They say this projects images onto the retina Then that it
>could help people who have retina problems, which seems to contradict how it
>works.
>Mike
>-----Original Message-----
>From: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Kristina Lawrence
>Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 1:39 PM
>To: NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [nfbwatlk] Seeing Machine Helps Blind See Pictures - PC World
>
>Hey, that sounds very much  like the Virtual Retinal Display that the
>Human Interface Technology Labratory was working on at the University
>of Washington. Riley was just a baby when I was still dealing with
>that group. Sounds like things have come a long way.
>
>Kris
>
>On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 2:22 AM, Lauren Merryfield
><lauren1 at catliness.com> wrote:
> > Seeing Machine Helps Blind See Pictures - PC World
> >
> > PC World
> >
> > Seeing Machine Helps Blind See Pictures
> > A seeing machine developed at MIT helps people with visual impairments see
>pictures.
> > Nick Barber, IDG News Service
> >
> > Friday, January 23, 2009 12:00 PM PST
> >
> > Using her prototype "seeing machine," Elizabeth Goldring can take pictures
>and see them -- with her blind eye.
> >
> > After more than 20 years of work, Goldring, a senior fellow at MIT's
>Center for Advanced Visual Studies and her colleagues have designed a
>portable device
> > that allows people with visual impairments to watch videos, access the
>internet, view photographs, or just see the face of a friend.
> >
> >
> > Her work started when she lost the vision in both of her eyes and doctors
>at the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston used a scanning laser
>ophthalmoscope,
> > or SLO, to determine if she had any healthy retina left. The machine,
>which costs over US$100,000, projected images directly onto the retina of
>the eye,
> > bypassing the hemorrhages contributing to her blindness.
> >
> > "Technicians projected stick figures onto my retinas and I could see some
>of those stick figures," she said of the experience. Goldring then asked
>them
> > if they could write the word "sun," which she could also see. "I was
>amazed. It was the first word I'd seen for months."
> >
> > After her visit, she contacted and worked with the inventor of the SLO,
>hoping to reduce the size and cost of the device. That research yielded a
>$4,000
> > desktop model that allowed the blind to see black-and-white images. Soon
>after, a desktop model was created that allowed for color images to be seen.
>Goldring
> > admits that version doesn't work well, but it paved the way for the
>current prototype.
> >
> > Once a video signal is plugged into the 5-inch square box, it is then fed
>to an LCD panel on the inside, according to Quinn Smithwick, a postdoctoral
>associate
> > at the MIT Media who has been working with Goldring on the seeing machine.
>The connection to the box is for a standard RCA video jack so almost
>anything
> > with a video output can be plugged in. The LCD panel inside is illuminated
>by a bright bank of LEDs behind it, which are collimated, or traveling in
>the
> > same direction. As the light passes through the LCD screen, the image
>pattern is "imprinted" onto the light. A lens at the back of the box focuses
>the
> > light into a single point, which then enters the pupil of the eye and
>passes onto the retina.
> >
> > "It's not that we're taking the camera image and blowing it up so you can
>see something big," said Smithwick. "We're trying to bypass any bad optics
>you
> > may have and then get enough light and enough contrast onto the back of
>your retina and then you can use what little bits of retina you may have
>left to
> > view it."
> >
> > Goldring thinks the seeing machine could help people with macular
>degeneration and proliferative retinal diseases, two of the main causes of
>blindness in
> > the U.S., according to Goldring. Using the device, Goldring said she can
>see faces and general details of people such as the color of their hair and
>what
> > they are wearing. Without it, she would only know that someone is standing
>close to her.
> >
> > Brandon Taylor, a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab, said the next
>step for the seeing machine is to test it with a wider population.
> >
> > "We've received positive results with Elizabeth and there have been a
>couple other people who have used it and its been very encouraging, but what
>we really
> > want to do for this testing phase is figure out what types of eye
>conditions this is beneficial for ... and how much improvement this machine
>can achieve,"
> > said Taylor. Goldring noted that there does need to be some working retina
>for the machine to work.
> >
> > "People aren't interested in what blind people see and we have a lot of
>pent-up desire to express ourselves visually and this is the first step to
>that,"
> > said Goldring.
> >
> > She and her team already have plans under way to test the seeing machine
>at the Low Vision Clinic at the Joslin Diabetes Center's Beetham Eye
>Institute
> > in Boston. After refining the device, they would also like to make it
>commercially available, though are not sure when it will be or for how much.
>Their
> > prototype, not including the digital camera, cost under $500 because
>"everything in it is already mass-produced for other purposes," Taylor said.
> >
> > "Keeping the visual sense alive is something good, even if you don't use
>it to cross the street," Goldring said.
> >
> > 1998-2008, PC World Communications, Inc.
> > When rays of sunlight break through the clouds on a gloomy day, it is
> > a welcome reminder that the sun is always shining--whether I see it or
> > not.--from Daily Word, author unknown
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David Andrews and white cane Harry.