[blindza] Visually Impaired Get A Taste Of Sight With New Device.
- From: "Jacob Kruger" <jacobk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "BlindZA" <blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2009 21:46:30 +0200
Another article about the brain port.
Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
'...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...'
---original message---
Visually Impaired Get A Taste Of Sight With New Device.
By Kafi Drexel.
A new device is helping the visually impaired do with the tongue some of the
work the eyes can no longer do. NY1's Health reporter Kafi Drexel filed the
following report.
Twenty-six-year-old Nihal Erkan was totally blind by age seven, and she
never
thought she would be able to make out shapes or letters again. But a new
device
is now helping her do what she thought was impossible.
With a piece of technology called the BrainPort, the ability to identify
letters
and shapes now seems to be at the tip of her tongue. Mounted to her
sunglasses,
BrainPort captures images on a digital camera, pixilates and converts them
into
an electrical signal, then sends them to a sensor she places on her tongue.
"When I was trying first this device I said, 'Wait a minute, I can recognize
the
shapes!' That was incredible," says Erkan. "I was shocked I could recognize
the
shapes."
Erkan is part of a 10-patient study at Lighthouse International to test how
well
BrainPort works. Produced by Wicab, a biomedical engineering company based
in
Wisconsin it still needs FDA approval.
Dr. William Seiple, who runs the Lighthouse study, says he is impressed with
what he sees.
"I think it's outstanding if people who haven't seen before can now perceive
a
written or drawn shape or letter on a piece of paper. That's something they
could never do," says Seiple.
Lighthouse International has set up real-world environments, like a kitchen,
where subjects can test the limits of the device.
BrainPort helps Erkan to figure out place settings and find her glass. It is
only meant to supplement rather than replace other assistance tools for the
visually impaired like canes and guide dogs, but with the help of the device
subjects like Erkan are also learning to walk down hallways, finding
elevator
buttons, doorways and signs.
With some tweaking from the manufacturer and proper training, Seiple says
there
may be no limit to what the new technology can do. He says one hope for the
company may be to use it as a reading machine.
Erkan hopes to fulfill another dream.
"I don't have a child, but I was thinking if I could have a child, I was
thinking, how could I teach my child how to read and write before they go to
school? Because I want to," says Erkan. "After I saw this device, maybe I
could
see what they write. I can teach them now."
Source URL:
http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/101881/visually-impaired-get-a-taste-of-sight-with-new-device/Default.a
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