tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60574245067342324062024-03-14T03:50:15.558-07:00Bionic eyes and armsI decided to create this blog after my 26-year-old brother lost his eyes and working fingers because of an accident. Scientific innovations in bionics and vision restoration fields are breathtaking and infuse with hope nowadays. So I started to follow the latest elaborations within this field and share them with you. Join up!Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6057424506734232406.post-16278701936987646012016-03-12T05:48:00.001-08:002016-03-12T06:05:13.409-08:00Thoughts aloud: may the cells restoring brain damage, be a solution for the blind?<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i><a href="http://bionic-eyes-arms-ukr.blogspot.com/2016/03/blog-post.html" target="_blank">Version in Russian</a></i></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today I
watched an amazing speech of neurosurgeon Jocelyne <span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Bloch </span>on <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/jocelyne_bloch_the_brain_may_be_able_to_repair_itself_with_help" target="_blank">TEDTalks</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dr. Bloch together
with her colleague, a biologist Jean-Francois Brunet, purified miraculous brain
cells, which behave almost like stem cells, but with a slight difference. These
so-called doublecortin-positive cells comprising only 4% of the cerebral cortex
<b>are able to turn into full-fledged neurons and build up the damaged areas of
the brain</b>. To prove this, the researchers conducted the following animal
experiment with monkeys. They isolated a small sample of the brain from a
non-functional region thereof, and grew a culture of doublecortin-positive
cells from it. Hereafter the researchers tagged the grown cells with a special
dye and implanted them back into intact brain of the same monkey. Due to the tags
researchers could observe that the introduced cells eventually dissipated, they
just disappeared. Further, in order to understand whether these cells may
behave differently, researchers introduced the same tagged cells this time into
the damaged part of the monkey’s brain. Noteworthy, in this case the cells have
not disappeared. They remained at the site of injury instead and become fully-fledged
neurons. Moreover, the newly formed neurons not only built up the injury
physically, but also took over the functions for which this region responded
before the damaging.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">More
details you can learn from the <a href="http://video-subtitle.tedcdn.com/talk/podcast/2015G/None/JocelyneBloch_2015G-480p-ru.mp4" target="_blank">speech </a>of Dr. Bloch:</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Undoubtedly,
this is an amazing speech. I suppose that in perspective the study of Dr. Bloch
et al. gives hope to restore also the visual function to patients who have lost
their vision due to brain structures damage. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Also
the doctor’s speech pushed my thought further. As we know, the retina and the
optic nerve are also made up of neurons. Involuntarily</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">a thought arises: what if these unique doublecortin
-positive cells are capable to differentiate (turn) into neurons, by being
implanted into the damaged retina or optic nerve? Maybe, it’s a crazy idea, but
I'll try to investigate the information to this end and surely will let you
know as soon as I find out anything.</span></span></span></div>
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Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6057424506734232406.post-22340529451642909242015-09-13T23:30:00.000-07:002015-09-14T01:48:54.412-07:00Seeing with sound: what hidden abilities do we have?<div style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><i>Author: Olena Markaryan </i> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://bionic-eyes-arms-ukr.blogspot.com/2015/09/blog-post.html" target="_blank">Russian version</a></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: x-large;">We think that we see with our eyes, but is that</span></b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> <b>a fact?</b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h4>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 27pt;">The experimental
psychologist </span><a href="http://www.bath.ac.uk/psychology/staff/michael-proulx/" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 27pt;">Dr.
Michael Proulx</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 27pt;"> at the </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_EA6hHuUSA" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 27pt;">TEDx
Talks</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 27pt;"> once said: “</span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 27pt;">We think that we
see with our eyes, but in fact we see with our brain. Our eyes just provide us
the information and the brain sorts out that information, makes sense of it and
makes that feeling of seeing</i><span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 27pt;">” [</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_EA6hHuUSA" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 27pt;">0</a></b><span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 27pt;"><b>]. These words give us
a lot of food for thought as well as push us to revaluate our abilities. What
happens if the visual input is cut off? Can the person still restore visual
perception in this case?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"> </span><a href="http://faculty.washington.edu/ionefine/" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">Dr.
Ione Fine</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">, talking about the crossmodal plasticity phenomenon in </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz37pTYwKhg" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">her interview</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">, explains
that if a person doesn’t get visual input, the part of the brain that is
responsible for the processing of visual input can’t just stop functioning and
do nothing. Instead, it starts to be fed with auditory and tactile information for
analysis.</span><i style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"> </i><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">Actually, in the daily life
of sightless people the visual cortex is actively engaged in the audio
information processing [</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_EA6hHuUSA" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">0</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">].
This was confirmed by </span><a href="https://www.psy.uni-hamburg.de/en/arbeitsbereiche/biologische-psychologie-und-neuropsychologie/personen/dormal-giulia.html" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">Dr.
Giulia Dormal</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"> and Dr. Olivier Collignon et al.’s observations when applying
functional magnetic resonance imaging (</span><span class="cont16white-space-wrap" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">fMRI)</span></span><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">. The scientists noted the activation of visual
cortex regions in response to audio stimuli in congenitally blind and
late-onset individuals [</span><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25520432" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">1</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">,
</span><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23831614" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">2</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">].</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR9pfQ3qQo7Uoix-qYVRgXgbJQN0IUHKqzO6d4v0n90UgY3eIhm4bEmt8koMp5yN68fDucCbMJhPtGbG2e_kFwvRZ-Co0zaHDYTSp0e-g-eq1mEfooDktfqiemK-7g0C1TbdGNpKJ3mN-5/s1600/The+voice_horse.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR9pfQ3qQo7Uoix-qYVRgXgbJQN0IUHKqzO6d4v0n90UgY3eIhm4bEmt8koMp5yN68fDucCbMJhPtGbG2e_kFwvRZ-Co0zaHDYTSp0e-g-eq1mEfooDktfqiemK-7g0C1TbdGNpKJ3mN-5/s200/The+voice_horse.gif" width="174" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: small;">Example spectrogram of a one-second <br />sound generated by The vOICe.</span><span style="color: #231f20;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <br />Image source: <a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/">www.seeingwithsound.com</a></span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></i></td></tr>
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<i style="font-size: x-large;"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></i></h4>
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<b style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: x-large;">Breaking stereotypes gives many possibilities.</span></b></h4>
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<b style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">Thus, if one sensory
receptor is not available, why not to use the other one in order to provide the
brain with necessary ‘food’ for processing? Actually, this principle has been
used by </span><a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/meijer.htm" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">Dr. Peter Meijer</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"> who
developed a system converting visual images to auditory signals in 1992 [</span><a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/extra/ieeebme1992.pdf" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">3</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">].</span><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"> </span><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">This system provides the user with ‘visual’
information via the sense of hearing and is called The vOICe [</span><a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/archive/The_Conversation_07012015.htm" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">4</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">].
With help of this sensory substitution device and after extensive training, </span><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">totally blind individuals are able
to differentiate between the shapes of different objects, identify actual
objects, and also locate them in space, identify and mimic the body posture of
a person standing a few meters away, navigate in crowded corridors while avoiding
obstacles, and even deduce live, 3-dimensional emotional </span><a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0033136#pone.0033136.s001" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">facial
expressions</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"> from the shape of the face and mouth [</span><a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0033136" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">5</a><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">].</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">Another interesting fact was found by Dr. Ella
Striem-Amit et al. The researchers decided to evaluate the visual acuity which
The vOICe provides to 8 congenitally and 1 early-onset totally sightless
individuals. Importantly, the </span><span style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">subjects were trained to
use the program during several months (2 hours a week) prior the acuity
assessment. With help of the Snellen tumbling-E test it was revealed that the
visual acuity of participants varied between 20/200 and 20/600. Moreover, 5 of
9 participants had a visual acuity exceeding the blindness threshold as
established by the World Health </span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1pt; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">Organisation
at 20/400. Therefore they could now formally be regarded as low-vision sighted
[<a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0033136">5</a>].</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Dr. Meijer </span></b><b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-large;">about his invention.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></h4>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">Being intrigued with The
vOICe operating principles, I couldn’t resist asking the device developer some
questions:<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">Dr.
Meijer, taking into account that seeing with sound is a quite unordinary
approach to perceive the external world, how did the idea that people can
actually see with sound come to your mind?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span lang="EN-US">Dr. Peter
Meijer</span></u><span lang="EN-US">:<i> In the brain, at the neuron level, the
signals carrying visual or auditory information all look the same (just spike
trains), so if the switch-box circuitry permits there could be a
"leaking" of auditory input to the visual brain areas. </i>[In
similar way as]<i> With the old telephone
system with copper wires in the ground, you can call people that you have never
called before, all without changing the physical wiring in the ground.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">How and
when does sound start to be analyzed by visual cortex instead of (or after)
auditory cortex? <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span lang="EN-US">Dr. P.M.</span></u><span lang="EN-US">:<i> Within days of complete blindfolding of normally sighted people, the visual
cortex starts to respond to sound, cf. <a href="http://www.frontiersin.org/10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.273/event_abstract?sname=10th_International_Conference_on_Cognitive_Neuroscience">6</a>,
<a href="http://tmslab.org/includes/alvaro_3.pdf">7</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15179062">8</a>. How it works, and the
extent to which for instance the parietal cortex (association cortex) is
involved is still unclear. The basic idea is that the visual cortex
"likes" to do what it is good at, such as doing spatial computations,
and if it can (and must, for lack of eyesight) get that information elsewhere,
the brain will adapt. For similar reasons, in Charles Bonnet syndrome, loss of
eyesight leads to visual hallucinations because the visual areas in the brain
still "want" to create realistic visual renderings. Ideally, sensory
substitution would replace meaningless hallucinations by visual hallucinations
based on true visual input, even though that input is now differently encoded (e.g.
in sound). Normal vision can be viewed as visual hallucinations where the
content just happens to match physical reality because the content is derived
from environmental visual input from the eyes.</i></span><b><i><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: x-large;">Transforming of visual image into sound: how does it work?</span></b></h4>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="letter-spacing: -.2pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Visual
images are captured by a camera and then transformed into so-called soundscapes
that preserve the object’s shape information. The algorithm of visual-auditory
conversion is the following: time and stereo panning form the horizontal axis
in the sound representation of an image, tone frequency makes up the vertical
axis and loudness corresponds to pixel brightness [<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17515898">9</a>]. For example, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="letter-spacing: -.2pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">a bright dot gives a short beep, with pitch telling elevation; a rising
bright line gives a rising tone. More examples and corresponding soundscapes
you can find in the <a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/manual/The_vOICe_Training_Manual.htm">manual</a>
to the program [<a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/manual/The_vOICe_Training_Manual.htm">10</a>].</span><span lang="EN-US" style="letter-spacing: -.2pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">Remarkably, The vOICe
lets one use the natural optical features, namely </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">visual perspective, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">parallax, occlusion, shading, and shadows
which may help greatly in the independent navigation. For example, knowing the
rule that an object appears twice as large at half the distance and applying it
while moving around and analyzing soundscapes, the user can differentiate
between and identify nearby obstacles as well as distant </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">landmarks.
More information about the interesting regularities you can find in the manual for
the </span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;">The vOICe</span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27pt;"> [<a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/manual/The_vOICe_Training_Manual.htm">10</a>].</span> </span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW5LXwEeM4bMFaH5-zwHLvot0l97ychIBsVmi5PzaONXmM66HFf2BQEW38rv-8SpZodrSRmpy1gwWkQ4habbcru45kay1HGPM8zGbX_g-dsVbLpZUpJyjwo7N4MfjyjJKVQOqJn7X7Ixw3/s1600/The+voice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW5LXwEeM4bMFaH5-zwHLvot0l97ychIBsVmi5PzaONXmM66HFf2BQEW38rv-8SpZodrSRmpy1gwWkQ4habbcru45kay1HGPM8zGbX_g-dsVbLpZUpJyjwo7N4MfjyjJKVQOqJn7X7Ixw3/s640/The+voice.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-US">On
the photo:</span></i><span lang="EN-US"> <i>Setup for</i> <i>the Windows
version of </i><i>The vOICe. </i></span><i>The vOICe for Android application is also available. </i><i style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US">Source of images: www.seeingwithsound.com</span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">To start practicing The
vOICe you only need a computer to install the free-to-download Windows program,
and headphones. This will let you practice the interpretation of soundscapes of
simple shapes. When you are ready to go to the next level, you will need to use
a portable computer (laptop or tablet) and a camera to get a live view of the visual
environment. All the details about software and hardware you can find at <a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/winvoice.htm">seeingwithsound.com</a>.
Also, you can find recommendations there regarding the use of bone conduction
headphones (which permit hearing both the soundscapes and natural environmental
sounds) and USB camera glasses which will make practicing with The vOICe more
convenient.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<h4>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: x-large;">However, it's not a magic bullet</span></b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-large;">.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h4>
<div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">It is highly important
to undergo the step-by-step training before using The vOICe in a real
environment, especially outside. Listening to The vOICe soundscapes of the outer
environment without any preliminary training may cause irritability or a
headache in some cases because of the stream of complex sounds which you cannot
interpret yet. A quite apt comparison that Dr. Meijer once made (personal <span class="im">correspondence): “</span><i>Learning
to drive a car can initially be highly stressful too, with the need to
near-simultaneously watch the road, watch the rear view mirror, and operate the
gas, gear lever, clutch and steering wheel in real-time. Still, would-be
drivers are not complaining </i>[and keep on studying].<i> Mastering The vOICe means hard work and persistence</i>”. <a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/training.htm">Here</a> you can find suggestions
for self-training, and the <a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/manual/The_vOICe_Training_Manual.htm">English
manual</a> (a <a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/manual_ru/The_vOICe_Training_Manual_ru.htm">translation
into Russian </a>is also available) will help you to further explore usage of this
program. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">Dr. Meijer’s advice regarding
being persistent with The vOICe training is corroborated with scientific
observations. <a href="http://www.schepens.harvard.edu/faculty/merabet/merabet-profile.html">Dr.
Lotfi Merabet</a> et al. measured brain activity (using <span class="cont16white-space-wrap"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">fMRI</span></span>) before and
after <span class="cont16white-space-wrap"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">The vOICe</span></span>
training. Before the training, <span class="cont16white-space-wrap"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">4 sighted subjects showed strong activation of auditory cortex but
no activation of visual areas in response to The vOICe</span></span> <span class="cont16white-space-wrap"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">audio stimuli. After one week
of training, activation was also recorded in visual cortical areas in 3 out of
4 of the sighted subjects [</span></span><i><a href="http://www.frontiersin.org/10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.273/event_abstract?sname=10th_International_Conference_on_Cognitive_Neuroscience">6</a></i>]<span class="cont16white-space-wrap"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">. Other interesting results include what <a href="http://brain.huji.ac.il/amir_amedi.asp">Dr. Amir Amedi</a> et al.
observed while studying the </span></span><span class="st">lateral-occipital
tactile-visual area</span> (LOtv), which is normally responsible for object shape
recognition via integrated visual and tactile information processing. According
to fMRI results, the soundscapes generated by <span class="cont16white-space-wrap"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">The vOICe also activated </span></span>LOtv
during shape recognition, whereas other sounds still did not activate LOtv. Moreover,
the LOtv activation was only <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">observed in
subjects who were trained to interpret the soundscapes. The scientists added
that it is unlikely that visual imagery instigates the processing of
information from soundscapes in LOtv [<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17515898">9</a>].</span><span class="cont16white-space-wrap"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<b style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 27pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: x-large;">What about the feedback from sightless users?</span></b></h4>
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9kJQyzl73c8zr5_Vg8zAfKR6t_TJOYYWPobkKpUOLiBwsRTOyAQ_vEUQV4q1gLaRXoDD9q2RzB1w5D6jFn_uUzuHPE1xeIxEF0A_XmxnqMqulaf8Z9SRmndM9HZlNRy7gsQAGNnMUsfdg/s1600/Pranav+Lal+with+photos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9kJQyzl73c8zr5_Vg8zAfKR6t_TJOYYWPobkKpUOLiBwsRTOyAQ_vEUQV4q1gLaRXoDD9q2RzB1w5D6jFn_uUzuHPE1xeIxEF0A_XmxnqMqulaf8Z9SRmndM9HZlNRy7gsQAGNnMUsfdg/s640/Pranav+Lal+with+photos.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span lang="EN-US">On the photo: Pranav Lal and photographs made by him. The source: <a href="http://techesoterica.com/">http://techesoterica.com/</a> </span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">I decided to contact a
sightless person who uses The vOICe in his daily life. Recently, the New
Scientist <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28040-substituting-senses-lets-blind-people-take-sonic-holiday-snaps/">published</a>
an article about the congenitally blind young man Pranav Lal who makes
wonderful photos of places he travels to. He uses The vOICe to make good shots.
Mr. Lal has been using The vOICe since 2001 (i.e. 14 years as of now).<i> </i> So I supposed he was the
right person to ask for opinions regarding the sensory substitution device: <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">What are your feelings while perceiving the world via The vOICe? What
are the advantages for you personally in using The vOICe?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span lang="EN-US">Pranav Lal</span></u><span lang="EN-US">: <i>As regards my feelings, I cannot describe them in one word. I
experience so much more. For example, I was looking at the staircase outside my
house. I have seen the architecture plans of the house using The vOICe. I
looked at the staircase sideways with The vOICe and connected the architect’s
drawing with what I was seeing. When I was being driven to a shop that was
quite far from my house, I was looking at all the vehicles and at the walls on
the side of the road as well as other things like vehicles stopped at the red
lights etc. I got so much more information. Words do not convey visual
information. You need to experience it. In addition, The vOICe helps me with
orientation. For example, I can walk in a straight line and not collide with
colleagues who are standing in random positions in the office. I feel more in
tune with my environment and can acquire information almost as fast as a
sighted person. Moreover, it gives me more inclusion with the sighted world. I
can point to things and ask people what they are and if people get excited
about something, I can look at that thing and participate in the conversation. The
thing with The vOICe is that you need to practice and start with small things
like looking at the door of your bedroom and evaluating how it looks visually.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="letter-spacing: -.3pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: large;">For how long do you actively use The vOICe? Do
you use it during the whole day, or for a short period? Did you experience any
side-effects after usage of this program (e.g. headache)?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="letter-spacing: -.3pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span lang="EN-US">PL</span></u><span lang="EN-US">: <i>I have used it for a maximum of 12 hours without any discomfort. I use
the program regularly. I wear the setup on a need basis. For example, on a
regular day, I may use The vOICe for 5 or 10 minutes to walk around my office
but when I go on holiday or to a new place, I only take it off when I return to
my hotel room. I assure you that there are no headaches. There is some
discomfort if your setup is not comfortable but we are fixing those problems
fast. For example, headphones became uncomfortable for me. I have now switched
to bone conduction headphones so my ears are free.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">Do you really perceive the soundscapes subconsciously without thinking
much about the basic rules of vision-to-sound conversion? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><u><span lang="EN-US">PL</span></u><span lang="EN-US">: <i>As for subconscious interpretation, I do not consciously think of the
rules any more. I sense a scene and then break it down into shapes. I then look
at spaces between shapes, patches of light and dark and then look for varying
textures. If I encounter something really knew, then I know the 3 basic rules
and try to make sense of it. The 3 rules are: the panning represents horizontal
placement of an object, the pitch represents the height of an object and the
volume represents the brightness of an object.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;"> What will happen is that the more
you use the program, the more the rules will become a habit when listening to a
soundscape. I frequently find myself using the rules when listening to music
and believe me that makes for strange images! I do not exactly build full
pictures in my head but more like a functional model a kin to a photographic
negative.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">Pranav Lal keeps a blog <a href="http://techesoterica.com/">techesoterica.com</a>, where he shares his
experience of using The vOICe, as well as his attitude towards other topics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<h4>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: x-large;">Afterword</span></b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-large;">.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h4>
<div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">I would like to note
that </span><a href="http://bionic-eyes-arms-eng.blogspot.com/2014/03/brainport-device-helps-sightless-to-see.html"><span lang="EN-US">earlier</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> I wrote about another sensory substitution
device – a tactile one named BrainPort. In my opinion, the uniqueness of both
The vOICe and BrainPort is that their operating principle is based on our
organism’s (brain’s in this case) natural ability to adapt towards new
conditions. The sensory substitution devices are noninvasive, relatively cheap
and can open up new opportunities in perception of the world that we have not
thought of before.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">Another point concerning
The vOICe that amazed me much (apart from everything else) is that it may give
the experience of visual perception to congenitally blind individuals. Thus the
specialists know that the concept of ‘critical periods’ exists, which assumes
that if during a particular developmental period (that happens in childhood)
the visual stimuli do not come to the brain, visual functions do not develop
(reviewed in [<a href="http://psych.mcmaster.ca/maurerlab/Publications/LewisSensiPeriod.pdf">11</a>]).
This is confirmed by psychological observations of children with vision loss at
different ages [<a href="http://psych.mcmaster.ca/maurerlab/Publications/LewisSensiPeriod.pdf">11</a>].
For instance, in case the visual deprivation starts at 6 months of age, it
prevents the development of normal acuity. If the visual deprivation happens near
birth, it prevents sensitivity to the global direction of motion. Nevertheless,
the studies of congenitally blind subjects that used The vOICe [<a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0033136">5</a>]
as well as Pranav Lal’s experience demonstrate that they still may acquire such
visual functions as acuity, shape recognition, object localization in space,
etc., despite having had no visual experience during the developmental periods.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<h4>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: x-large;">Acknowledgement</span></b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-large;">.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h4>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: large;">I thank Dr. Peter Meijer
and Pranav Lal for their help in creation of this article.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">References</span></b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">0.</span></i><span lang="EN-US"> </span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Michael Proulx at
TEDxBathUniversity: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_EA6hHuUSA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_EA6hHuUSA</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">1. Dormal G, Lepore F, Harissi-Dagher M, Albouy G,
Bertone A, Rossion B, Collignon O (2014). Tracking the evolution of crossmodal
plasticity and visual functions before and after sight-restoration. Journal of
Neurophysiology, 113, 1727-1742. doi: 10.1152/jn.00420.2014.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">2. Collignon O, Dormal G, Albouy G, Vandewalle G, Voss
P, Phillips C, Lepore F. (2013). Impact of <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">blindness
onset on the functional organization and the connectivity of the occipital
cortex. Brain, 136 (Pt 9): 2769-83. doi: 10.1093/brain/awt176.</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3.</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <i>Meijer PB
(1992). An experimental system for auditory image representations. IEEE Trans
Biomed <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Eng.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
39(2):112-21.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">4. </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/archive/The_Conversation_07012015.htm"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.seeingwithsound.com/archive/The_Conversation_07012015.htm</span></a></span></i><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">5.
Striem-Amit E., Guendelman M., Amedi A.
(2012). ‘Visual’ Acuity of the Congenitally Blind <span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">Using Visual-to-Auditory Sensory Substitution.</span></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; letter-spacing: -.2pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">
<i>PLoS ONE 7(3): e33136.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033136</i></span><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">6. Merabet L, Poggel D, Stern W, Bhatt E, Hemond C,
Maguire S, Meijer P and Pascual-Leone A (2008). Retinotopic visual cortex
mapping using a visual-to-auditory sensory-substitution device. Front. Hum.
Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive
Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.273<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; letter-spacing: -.4pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">7. Pascual-Leone A, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Hamilton</st1:city></st1:place> R (2001) The
metamodal organization of the brain. Prog Brain Res 134: 1–19.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18.0pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">8. Merabet LB, Maguire D, Warde A, Alterescu K,
Stickgold R, Pascual-Leone A.(2004). Visual hallucinations during prolonged
blindfolding in sighted subjects.</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <i>J
Neuroophthalmol. 24(2):109-13.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">9.
Amedi A, Stern W M, Camprodon J A, Bermpohl F, Merabet L, Rotman S, Hemond C,
Meijer P & Pascual-Leone A (2007). Shape conveyed by visual-to-auditory
sensory substitution activates the lateral occipital complex.</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <i>Nature Neuroscience 10, 687 – 689,
doi:10.1038/nn1912<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">10. <span style="letter-spacing: -.3pt;">Manual of The vOICe: </span></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; letter-spacing: -.3pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/manual/The_vOICe_Training_Manual.htm">http://www.seeingwithsound.com/manual/The_vOICe_Training_Manual.htm</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Self-Training
for The vOICe: <a href="http://www.seeingwithsound.com/training.htm">http://www.seeingwithsound.com/training.htm</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 18pt;">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">11. Lewis
T. L., Maurer D. (2005). Multiple Sensitive Periods in Human Visual
Development: Evidence from Visually Deprived Children. 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., DOI:
10.1002/dev.20055.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 27.0pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6057424506734232406.post-90477701794164313592015-05-08T15:45:00.000-07:002016-01-31T05:52:44.176-08:00Surgical sight restoration: A sticking point and treatment with alternating current. <div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://bionic-eyes-arms-ukr.blogspot.com/2016/01/blog-post.html" target="_blank">Russian version</a></span></div>
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</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US">I decided to write this article after reading
quite sad <a href="http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/news/20150119-how-does-the-brain-adapt-to-the-restoration-of-eyesight.html" target="_blank">notification </a>dedicated to a patient whose cornea was restored after
longstanding blindness. In spite of operation successfulness, researchers
observing the patient during 7 months after the operation, concluded that due
to long-term visual deprivation the vision restoration may never be complete.</span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Being flurried with this unpromising news I
decided to investigate whether any solutions may exist. Now I would like to
share my findings with you.</span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Finding No.1: the issue does really exist. </span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">One would
think that the newly developed surgical techniques, such as corneal and limbal
stem-cell transplantation, intraocular lens and artificial cornea implantation
would have to solve the issue of complete visual perception restoration for the
targeted patients. However what have turned out in fact? Studies of patients
who underwent the restorative eyesight surgery after years of blindness do not
give encouraging results. For example, Dr. Fine et al. studied the patient MM,
who lost one eye at the age of 3,5 and was blinded in the other one after
chemical and thermal damage to cornea [1]. This patient underwent the corneal
and limbal stem-cell transplantation surgery when he was 43 years old. The
surgery was successful and the patient gained acuity of 0,02 [2]. He could
easily recognize simple shapes, identify colors and discriminate the direction
of both simple and complex plaid motion [1].
In spite the patient regained the important vision functions; he still
had low acuity performance even upon 2 years after surgery as well as difficulties
with three-dimensional form, face, and gender recognition and interpretation
[1]. Even 7 years after the operation,
he still had poor spatial resolution and limited visual abilities [3].</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">With this
regard it is worth to mention about the <span style="color: #990000;"><b>“critical period theory”</b></span>. The critical
period is a period of visual development when the visual stimuli are necessary
for the visual function development. This theory was extended by researchers
Dr. Lewis and Dr. Maurer, who noted that different visual functions have
different sensitive periods of development [4]. Thus, in case the visual
deprivation starts at 6 months of age, it prevents the development of normal
acuity, but does not affect the sensitivity to the global direction of motion,
which develops during the period near birth. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">Accordingly, Dr. Fine et al.
supposed that MM had dissimilarities in visual function restoration because the
ability to interpret three-dimensional
forms and faces develops after early development, while the ability to
interpret motions is formed earlier in childhood [1]. Regarding the acuity it
was concluded that long standing visual loss deteriorated the spatial
resolution of the patient’s relevant visual cortex area. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">Another observation
Dr. Ostrovsky et al. did while studying two congenitally blind children
suffering from dense bilateral cataract [5]. The children gained partial vision
restoration at the age of 7 and 13 due to intraocular lens implantation. As the
result, after operation children had acuity of 0,2 and 0,25 and both could
perform simple shape recognition. Nevertheless they still had poor but improved
with time (during 10-18 months) recognition of overlapping simple shapes,
i.e. perceptual organization of the
visual scene.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Thus, the theory about critical / sensitive
periods may explain the partial visual function recovery after restorative
eyesight surgery in patients who lost sight in the childhood. Nevertheless, how
the similar issue may be explained when the vision loss happens in the
adulthood?</span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">Dr. Sikl et
al. studied the subject who lost his vision at the age of 17 because of the
explosion [6]. The patient’s cornea was damaged in both eyes. At the age of 71
he underwent an artificial cornea implantation. As the result, the patient
gained acuity of 0,33. Upon 6 and 8 months post surgery he performed a good
object recognition: 92% recognition of canonical form objects versus 20-30%
demonstrated by early-blindness patients postoperatively. Also the patient
differentiated face from non-face stimuli and successfully fulfilled simple
tasks of visual space perception. At the
same time he still had difficulties with complex 3-dimentional visual scenes
recognition, gender and two faces shown simultaneously differentiation, as well
as limited ability to integrate partial information. A neuropsychological
examination did not reveal any cognitive deficits and the patient’s performance
matched his age.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US">As far as is known, the sensory substitution
(e.g. spatial detection of sound, Braille reading) helps greatly to sightless
individuals in their daily life. However, does this result of cross modal
plasticity always have an advantageous impact?</span></b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">Unfortunately,
it does not. Dr. Dormal et al. investigated a patient whose vision severely
deteriorated in childhood (during the age of 2,5-13 years) because of dense
bilateral cataracts [7]. After artificial cornea implantation at the age of 47,
the subject’s acuity improved from 0,04 up to 0,2 (1,5 months post surgery) and
up to 0,7 (7 months post surgery). The researchers noted the contrast
sensitivity and face individuation improvements (which though were still below
the normal range). The activity of the visual cortex before and after the
restorative eyesight surgery was monitored via functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI). The researchers noted that before the surgery visual cortex of
the patient actively responded to audio stimuli. After the surgery the visual
cortex still responded to audio input which overlapped with visual responses.
Though the activation of visual cortex with sound was decreased post surgery,
it still was recorded even 7 months after the surgery. In other words, the
audio signals still competed with visual ones for being analyzed by visual
cortex. In the researcher’s opinion it may explain why the patient’s visual
performance still was below the normal level after the sight-restorative
surgery.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">According
to all above mentioned, </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>it seems that if
the longstanding eyesight loss happens due to damage of anterior eye tissues,
surgical restoration of the tissues is not enough to regain the visual
functions to the full extent. Sounds quite pessimistic, isn’t it?</b></span> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">It may
well be not so sad if to come to understanding that the visual function loss is
not restricted solely to the local tissue damage [8].</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Finding No.2: applying
of alternating current may partially return visual perception to sightless. </span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<br /></div>
</div>
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<![endif]--></span></b></b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #990000;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">After alpha band
oscillations monitoring in both visually impaired and sighted subjects, Michal Bola
et al. noted that visual function loss is accompanied with disturbance of brain
networks synchronization (BNS). Moreover, the researchers came further and
demonstrated that BNS may be adjusted with alternating current application. The
method which was used by the researchers is called “noninvasive repetitive
transorbital alternating current stimulation” (rtACS) wherein the stimulating
electrodes are applied to the skin at the ocular region </span></b></span></span></b></b><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #990000;">[8].</span></span></span><b><b><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></span></b></b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Formerly I have already <a href="http://bionic-eyes-arms-eng.blogspot.in/2014/10/the-new-method-for-treatment-of.html">written</a>
about this therapeutic approach. Treatment with rtACS leads to improvement of
patients’ visual tasks performance. The success of rtACS was ascertained,
particularly, by clinical observational study, where patients with optic nerve
damage exhibited significant improvements in both visual field (by 9,3%) and acuity
(by 0.02) after the treatment [9]. An explanation of such phenomenon was
proposed by Dr. Sabel et al. within “residual vision activation theory” [10]. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">According to the theory, the visual system pathway usually is not damaged
totally. There still exist some survived residual structures. Nevertheless they
can’t provide proper transfer of visual information because the neuronal cell
loss leads to neuronal network disorganization, i.e. to loss of network
synchrony. Stimulation with rtACS forces the disorganized neuronal network to
fire simultaneously. That restores the network synchrony of both survived cells
within damaged region and cells of upstream visual pathway. Repetition of rtACS
stimulation stabilizes the network firing synchrony. The mechanism involved is
similar to one underlying the process of normal learning.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">
</span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="letter-spacing: -.1pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>Notably that even patients considered to be
“legally blind,” almost always have some degree of residual vision and
therefore some restoration potential</b></span> [10].</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="letter-spacing: -.1pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="letter-spacing: -.1pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">According to Dr. Sabel,
the subject’s age, as well as age, type and location of the damage throughout
visual system pathway do not influence the degree of visual restoration (it
refers to injuries of nerve tissues, that is retina, optic nerve, brain
regions). The only known parameter that matters for restoration, though, is the
size and topography of areas of residual vision (ARVs). Vision restoration may
be induced in most visual field impairments (scotoma, tunnel vision,
hemianopia, acuity loss), irrespective of their etiology (e.g. stroke,
neurotrauma, glaucoma, amblyopia,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">age-related macular degeneration).
However, vision restoration is rarely complete and does not take place in all
patients. </span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">
</span><b><b><span lang="EN-US">
</span></b></b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><b><span lang="EN-US">
</span></b></b></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span lang="EN-US">Sum of Findings No.1 and No.2: should we expect a light at the end of
the tunnel?</span></b></span></span></b></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><b><span lang="EN-US">
</span></b></b></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><b><span lang="EN-US">
</span></b></b><span lang="EN-US"></span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Comparing of all
abovementioned facts brought me to one presumption. Whereas noninvasive stimulation
of visual system tissues with alternating current may improve visual perception
even in patients whose blindness is caused by damage to the nervous tissues of
the visual pathway. Probably, such approach could also help to the patients whose
nerve tissues are not affected but because of the long term visual input absence
the visual function restoration doesn’t happen completely. Definitely this is
what should be investigated, but what if rtACS is what could help in
rehabilitation of the patients after surgical vision restoration and allow them
to regain the visual function to the full extent?</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">
</span><b><b><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span>
<br />
<h4>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><u><span lang="EN-US">References</span></u></i><u><span lang="EN-US">:</span></u></span></div>
</h4>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">1. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fine I, Wade AR, Brewer AA, May
MG, Goodman DF, Boynton GM, Wandell BA, MacLeod DIA (2003). Long-term deprivation
affects visual perception and cortex. Nat Neurosci 6: 915–916.</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DOI:10.1038/nn1102</i></span></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">2. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Saenz M., Lewis L. B., Huth A.G., Fine
I., Koch C.(2008). Visual motion area MT+/V5 responds to
auditory motion in human sight-recovery subjects. J Neurosci. 28(20):
5141–5148. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0803-08.2008.</i></span></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3.
Heimler B et al. Revisiting the adaptive and maladaptive effects of crossmodal
plasticity. Neuroscience (2014), http://</span></i><span lang="EN-US"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2014.08.003</span></i></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">4.
Lewis T. L., Maurer D. (2005). Multiple Sensitive Periods in Human Visual
Development: Evidence from Visually Deprived Children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., DOI:
10.1002/dev.20055.<span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"></span></span></i></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">5. Ostrovsky, Y., Meyers, E.,
Ganesh, S., Mathur, U., and Sinha, P. (2009). Visual parsing after recovery from
blindness. Psychol. Sci. 20, 1484–1491. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02471.x</span></i></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">6. Šikl R, Šimeček M,
Porubanová-Norquist M, Bezdíček O, Kremláček J, Stodůlka P, Fine I, Ostrovsky
Y<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(2013). Vision after 53 years of
blindness. i-Perception 4(8) 498–507; doi:10.1068/i0611</span></i></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">7.
Dormal G, Lepore F, Harissi-Dagher M, Albouy G, Bertone A, Rossion B, Collignon
O (2014). Tracking the evolution of crossmodal plasticity and visual functions
before and after sight-restoration. Journal of Neurophysiology, 113, 1727-1742.
doi: 10.1152/jn.00420.2014</span></i></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">8. Bola M., Gall C., Moewes
C., Fedorov A., Hinrichs H., Sabel B.A.(2014).Brain functional connectivity
network breakdown and restoration in blindness. <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Neurology </span>6, 542–551.doi:10.1212/ WNL.0000000000000672</span></i></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">9. Fedorov A, Jobke S, Bersnev
V, Chibisova<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A., Chibisova Y., Gall C.,
Sabel B. A. (2011). Restoration of vision after optic nerve lesions with
noninvasive transorbital alternating current stimulation: a clinical
observational study. Brain Stimul.4:189-201. DOI:10.1016/j.brs.2011.07.007</span></i></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">10. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #231f20;">Sabel
B.A, Henrich-Noack P., Fedorov A., Gall C. (2011). Vision restoration after
brain and retina damage: The “Residual Vision Activation Theory”. Prog Brain
Res, 192, 199-262. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-444-53355-5.00013-0</span></i></span></span></div>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">
</b>Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6057424506734232406.post-40171855350344257302015-05-07T23:58:00.000-07:002015-09-14T15:40:34.137-07:00Suggestion of rehabilitative treatment for patients subjected to sight restorative surgery.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was happy to participate in <a href="http://pcl.upjs.sk/workshop2015/" target="_blank">The Second Workshop and Lecture Series on “Cognitive neuroscience of auditory and cross-modal perception”</a> with my <a href="http://pcl.ics.upjs.sk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/kosice_workshop2015_abstract_book.pdf" target="_blank">thesis </a>and poster presentation!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqL1i666u0tRhuourtcBvAgTtmVOMnfiof5i7BsfI6G3jlc4kwEh_V7Vx8e7aqRCt8l27MnBNHrvyz6mv7Jzy24qyVMlL5oiGSbtupirAjVFJge01zKLiS-FhzPleQXfBwaI_FhiVJoQqE/s1600/Poster_Olena+Markaryan_updated_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqL1i666u0tRhuourtcBvAgTtmVOMnfiof5i7BsfI6G3jlc4kwEh_V7Vx8e7aqRCt8l27MnBNHrvyz6mv7Jzy24qyVMlL5oiGSbtupirAjVFJge01zKLiS-FhzPleQXfBwaI_FhiVJoQqE/s640/Poster_Olena+Markaryan_updated_small.jpg" width="451" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span></i></span>
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Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6057424506734232406.post-72276242819252958562015-05-04T08:29:00.000-07:002015-05-06T10:40:44.485-07:00The Second Workshop and Lecture Series on “Cognitive neuroscience of auditory and cross-modal perception” took place in Košice, Slovakia on 20 – 24 April 2015<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was happy to participate in Th<span lang="EN-US">e W</span>orkshop
<span lang="EN-US">dedicated to</span>
neural processes of auditory, visual and cross-modal perception. The talks <span lang="EN-US">were related to </span>cognitive neuroscience
research, covering behavioral, neuroimaging, and modeling approaches, as well
as applications of the research in auditory prosthetic devices<span lang="EN-US"> (cochlear implants, hearing aids)</span>.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsdjQdYL2fVyr0s2QSaIEmgUbXZ0Ht1R7LPd-TNPg_YrGO2T2VTqhrVRQnfrknBU8wqsFkjqfnZWl_JcUw_6A3nOwr8NmQ4b2FW2Yr2vpNl91rFuHF-VG4WShd7arZ3M019glbd3O-D2JC/s1600/workshop2015_poster_A3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsdjQdYL2fVyr0s2QSaIEmgUbXZ0Ht1R7LPd-TNPg_YrGO2T2VTqhrVRQnfrknBU8wqsFkjqfnZWl_JcUw_6A3nOwr8NmQ4b2FW2Yr2vpNl91rFuHF-VG4WShd7arZ3M019glbd3O-D2JC/s1600/workshop2015_poster_A3.jpg" height="640" width="451" /></a></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u>Topics and presenters (detailed abstracts please find <a href="http://pcl.ics.upjs.sk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/kosice_workshop2015_abstract_book.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>):</u><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u>Monday, 20 April 2015</u><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Learning
From Nature’s Experiments: What Clinical Research Can Mean for Sensory
Scientists, </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frederick
(Erick) </span><st1:city style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on">Gallun</st1:city><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;">, </span><st1:country-region style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;" w:st="on">US</st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;">
Dept. of Veterans Affairs and </span><st1:place style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;" w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Oregon</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">Health & Science</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place><br />
<st1:place style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;" w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on"><br /></st1:placetype></st1:place></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pursuit eye
movements and perceived object velocity, potential clinical applications</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arash
Yazdanbakhsh,<i> <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Boston</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place></i><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on"><br /></st1:placetype></st1:place></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Active
listening: Speech intelligibility in cocktail party listening.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simon
Carlile, <i>Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">Medical</st1:placename> Science and Bosch
Institute, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">University of Sydney</st1:city>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region></st1:place> 2006</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Perceptual
Learning; specificity, transfer and how learning is a distributed process</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron Seitz,
<i>Department of Psychology, <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">California</st1:placename>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Riverside</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region></st1:place></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Spatial
hearing: Effect of hearing loss and hearing aids</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Virginia
Best, <st1:place w:st="on"><i><st1:placename w:st="on">Boston</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></i></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Toward an
evolutionary theory of speech: how and why did it develop the way it did</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pierre
Divenyi, <i>Center for Computer Research for Music and Acoustics, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Stanford University</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.A.</st1:country-region></st1:place></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>On the
single neuron computation </b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Petr Marsalek,
</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:placename w:st="on">Charles</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">University</st1:placename>
in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Prague</st1:place></st1:city></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How
spectral information triggers sound localization in sagittal planes</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Robert
Baumgartner, Piotr Majdak, and Bernhard Laback, <i>Acoustics Research Institute,
Austrian <st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Sciences</st1:placename>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Vienna</st1:city>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Austria</st1:country-region></st1:place></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Cognitively
Inspired Speech Processing For Multimodal Hearing Technology</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Andrew
Abel, </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prof. Amir Hussain, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Computing Science and Mathematics, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">University
of Stirling</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Scotland</st1:country-region></st1:place></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Auditory
Distance Perception and DRR-ILD Cues Weighting</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jana
Eštočinová, Jyrki Ahveninen, Samantha Huang, Stephanie Rossi, and Norbert
Kopčo, <i>Institute of Computer Science, P. <st1:placename w:st="on">J.</st1:placename>
Šafárik University, Košice, Slovakia; </i></span></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:placename w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US">Athinoula</span></st1:placename><span lang="EN-US"> <st1:placename w:st="on">A.</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Martinos</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype> for Biomedical Imaging,
Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">General</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Hospital; </st1:placetype></st1:place></span></i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Center for
Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Boston</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place></i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWBefqhKO8HX9IF2ZLakizS6RrXF6eS_1sUrdtqXm9yBUtjFVk7g7DHApunaT68zSviT2TPy-lx_x8gGJ8oTAiJ3J59IjNhCX2sV5aUFWy0MsW_SKsTdhnGHxjHUeuuTO9HFbz5qOS2-6p/s1600/034.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWBefqhKO8HX9IF2ZLakizS6RrXF6eS_1sUrdtqXm9yBUtjFVk7g7DHApunaT68zSviT2TPy-lx_x8gGJ8oTAiJ3J59IjNhCX2sV5aUFWy0MsW_SKsTdhnGHxjHUeuuTO9HFbz5qOS2-6p/s1600/034.jpg" height="400" width="297" /></a></div>
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on"><br /></st1:placetype></st1:place></i>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-size: large;">Tuesday, 21 April 2015</span></u><o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>RESTART
theory: discrete sampling of binaural information during envelope fluctuations is
a fundamental constraint on binaural processing</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">G.
Christopher Stecker, <i><st1:placename w:st="on">Vanderbilt</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype>
of Medicine, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Nashville</st1:city> <st1:state w:st="on">TN</st1:state> <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region></st1:place></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><br /></st1:country-region></st1:place></i></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sound
Localization Cues and Perceptual Grouping in Electric Hearing</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bernhard
Laback, <i><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Austrian</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype></st1:place> of Sciences</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Brain Training;
How to train cognition to yield transfer to real world contexts</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron Seitz,
<i>Department of Psychology, <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">California</st1:placename>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Riverside</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region></st1:place></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Coincidence
detection in the MSO - computational approaches</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Petr
Marsalek, <i><st1:placename w:st="on">Charles</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">University</st1:placename> in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Prague</st1:place></st1:city></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Auditory
Processing After mild Traumatic Brain Injury: New Findings and Next Steps</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frederick
(Erick) <st1:city w:st="on">Gallun</st1:city>, <i><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region>
Dept. of Veterans Affairs and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Oregon</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">Health & Science</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Hearing
motion in motion</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Carlile, S,
Leung J, Locke, S, and Burgess, M., <i>Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Medical</st1:placename>
Science and Bosch Institute, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">University
of Sydney</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region></st1:place>
2006</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Auditory
processing capabilities supporting communication in preverbal infants</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">István
Winkler, <i>Research Centre for Natural Sciences, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Hungarian</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype></st1:place>
of Sciences</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Chirp
stimuli for entrainment: chirp up, chirp down and task effects</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aleksandras
Voicikas, Ieva Niciute, Osvaldas Ruksenas, Inga Griskova-Bulanova, <i>Vilnius
University, Department of Neurobiology and Biophysics.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Cross-modal
interaction in spatial attention</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marián
Špajdel, Zdenko Kohút, Barbora Cimrová, Stanislav Budáč, Igor Riečanský<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Laboratory
of Cognitive Neuroscience, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Institute</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">Normal</st1:placename></st1:place> and
Pathological Physiology,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US">Slovak</span></st1:placename><span lang="EN-US"> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype></span></st1:place><span lang="EN-US"> of Sciences; </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Department
of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, </span><st1:place style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">University of Trnava</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Slovakia; </st1:country-region></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Centre for
Cognitive Science, Department of Applied Informatics, Faculty of Mathematics,
Physics and Informatics, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SCAN Unit,
Institute of Clinical, Biological and Differential Psychology, Faculty of
Psychology, </span><st1:place style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">University of Vienna</st1:city>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Austria</st1:country-region></st1:place></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Prediction
processes in the visual modality – an EEG study</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gábor
Csifcsák, Viktória Balla, Szilvia Szalóki, Tünde Kilencz, Vera Dalos<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Early
electophysiological correlates of susceptibility to the double-flash illusion</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simon
Júlia, Csifcsák Gábor, <i><st1:placetype w:st="on">Institute</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Psychology</st1:placename> <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">Szeged</st1:placename></st1:place></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Suggestion
of rehabilitative treatment for patients subjected to sight restorative
surgery</b>. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Olena
Markaryan, <i>Independent researcher</i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Learning of
auditory distance with intensity and reverberation cues</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hladek
Lubos1, Seitz Aaron, Kopco Norbert, Institute of Computer Science, <i>P. <st1:placename w:st="on">J.</st1:placename> Safarik University in Kosice, Slovakia, Department
of Psychology, University of California Riverside, USA</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Streaming
and sound localization with a preceding distractor</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gabriela
Andrejková1, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">Virginia</st1:state></st1:place>
Best3, Barbara G. Shinn-Cunningham3, and Norbert Kopčo<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:placetype w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US">Institute</span></st1:placetype><span lang="EN-US"> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Computer</st1:placename> Science, <st1:placename w:st="on">P.</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">J.</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Šafárik</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Košice</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Slovakia; </st1:country-region></st1:place></span></span><st1:placename style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US">Athinoula</span></st1:placename><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <st1:placename w:st="on">A.</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Martinos</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype> for Biomedical Imaging,
Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School/ Massachusetts <st1:placename w:st="on">General</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Hospital</st1:placetype>,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Charlestown</st1:city> <st1:state w:st="on">MA; </st1:state></st1:place></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Center for
Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, </span><st1:placename style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on">Boston</st1:placename><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><st1:placetype style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on">University</st1:placetype><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span><st1:place style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Boston</st1:city> <st1:state w:st="on">MA</st1:state></st1:place></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Exposure to
Consistent Room Reverberation Facilitates Consonant Perception</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Norbert Kopčo,
Eleni Vlahou, Kanako Ueno3 & Barbara Shinn-Cunningham<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:placetype w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US">Institute</span></st1:placetype><span lang="EN-US"> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Computer</st1:placename> Science, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">P.</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">J.</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">Šafárik</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University; </st1:placetype></st1:place></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Department
of Psychology, </span><st1:placetype style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on">University</st1:placetype><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> of </span><st1:placename style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on">California</st1:placename><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span><st1:place style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Riverside; </st1:city></st1:place><st1:placetype style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US">School</span></st1:placetype><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Science</st1:placename> and Technology, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Meiji</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University </st1:placetype></st1:place></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Center for
Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, </span><st1:place style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Boston</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place></i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Contextual
plasticity in sound localization: characterization of spatial properties and
neural locus, </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beáta
Tomoriová, Ľuboš Marcinek, Ľuboš Hládek, Norbert Kopčo</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:placename w:st="on"><span lang="EN-US">Pavol</span></st1:placename><span lang="EN-US"> <st1:placename w:st="on">Jozef</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Šafárik</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Košice</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Slovakia; </st1:country-region></st1:place></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Technical </span><st1:place style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">University of Košice</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Slovakia</st1:country-region></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Visual
Adaptation And Spatial Auditory Processing</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Peter
Lokša, Norbert Kopčo, I<i>nstitute of Computer Science, <st1:placename w:st="on">P.</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">J.</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Šafárik</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Košice</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Slovakia</st1:country-region></st1:place></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Speech
Localization in a Multitalker Reverberant Environment</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Peter Toth,
Norbert Kopco, <i><st1:placename w:st="on">Charles</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">University</st1:placename> in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Prague</st1:place></st1:city></i><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><br /></st1:place></st1:city></i></span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZ_9tpyq1OkOpHJSwRZ9f1vWo_5GUpgnNLABrYRoMFaakBKNzjrQajDTlOZEWwkqOtDjpAL2tsVEGN1F1nnfQUnb6xtiZzwicvwc62tvnZAc1fzSIOqrQp9GSEC6aJYfhJueLSCxAI7lC/s1600/Logo__PF_UPJS_farebne.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZ_9tpyq1OkOpHJSwRZ9f1vWo_5GUpgnNLABrYRoMFaakBKNzjrQajDTlOZEWwkqOtDjpAL2tsVEGN1F1nnfQUnb6xtiZzwicvwc62tvnZAc1fzSIOqrQp9GSEC6aJYfhJueLSCxAI7lC/s1600/Logo__PF_UPJS_farebne.png" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u>Wednesday, 22 April 2015</u></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Visuospatial
memory and where eyes look when the percept changes</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arash
Yazdanbakhsh, <st1:place w:st="on"><i><st1:placename w:st="on">Boston</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></i></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Modeling
Auditory Scene Analysis by multidimensional statistical filtering</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Volker
Hohmann, <i>Medical Physics, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">University
of Oldenburg</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Modeling
auditory stream segregation by predictive processes</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">István
Winkler,<i> Research Centre for Natural Sciences, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Hungarian</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype></st1:place>
of Sciences</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What is the
cost of simultaneously listening to the "what" and the
"when" in speech?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pierre
Divenyi, <i>Center for Computer Research for Music and Acoustics, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Stanford University</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.A.</st1:country-region></st1:place></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Neuroimaging
of task-dependent spatial processing in human auditory cortex</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">G.
Christopher Stecker, <i><st1:placename w:st="on">Vanderbilt</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype>
of Medicine, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Nashville</st1:city> <st1:state w:st="on">TN</st1:state> <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region></st1:place></i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Temporal
Effects in the Perception of Interaural Level Differences: Data and Model
Predictions, </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bernhard
Laback, </span><i><st1:place style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Austrian</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> of Sciences</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Modeling
Cocktail Party Processing in a Multitalker Mixture using Harmonicity and
Binaural Features</b>, </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Volker
Hohmann, <i>Medical Physics, </i></span><st1:place style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" w:st="on"><i><st1:city w:st="on">University
of Oldenburg</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region></i></st1:place></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Audibility
and spatial release from masking</b>. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Virginia
Best, Frederick Gallun, Norbert Kopčo</span></div>
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Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6057424506734232406.post-83762478479048426642014-10-06T06:13:00.000-07:002014-10-06T06:13:03.732-07:00The new method for the treatment of neurologically caused impairments of the visual system.<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://bionic-eyes-arms-ukr.blogspot.com/2014/10/blog-post.html" target="_blank">Русскоязычная версия</a></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As it was <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140922006134/en/EBS-Expands-Commercialization-WAVE%E2%84%A2-Non-Invasive-Electrical-Brain#.VClqhWd_t6l" target="_blank">announced </a>on September 22, 2014, The company EBS Technologies has opened its
first ophthalmologic clinical site in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place> that is offering the use of
the EBS NEXT WAVE™ brain stimulation device designed to expand the visual field
of patients with impaired vision caused by glaucoma, stroke and other
neurological diseases. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On the </span><a href="http://www.ebstech.de/home-en-us/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;" target="_blank">official web-site</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> of</span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">EBS Technologies you can find the
detailed description of the therapy they propose: </span></div>
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<b>The EBS Therapy</b></div>
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The EBS Therapy (abbreviated <b>Еlectrical Brain Synchronization</b>) is a completely new method for the treatment of neurologically caused impairments of the visual system.</div>
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The EBS Therapy is a non-invasive, low risk electrical stimulation treatment device that is individually adapted to the patient’s condition in order to restore visual field losses caused by neurological disorders such as stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION), Neuropathy of the optic nerve as well as several types of glaucoma. Common to all of these diseases is the damage of neuronal structures in the optic nerve and/or of those areas of the brain that are responsible for visual perception. Such damage may reduce the visual performance of the patient.</div>
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In some cases, the functionality of the optic nerve can be restored by a <a href="http://www.ebstech.de/glossary/#spontaneous-neuronal-reorganization">spontaneous reorganization</a> of the brain (self-healing effect). However, most of these losses are considered to be permanent.</div>
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The EBS Therapy is made possible by the NEXT WAVE™ Technology, which uses patterns of current-driven electrical pulses that are applied via 4 electrodes around the patient’s eyes. </div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mechanism of Action </span></b></div>
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According to information-theoretical approaches, the complete information of the brain is stored in the form of neurological networks. After an accident or because of specific neurological diseases of the brain (stroke or TBI as well as neuro-ophthalmological diseases such as glaucoma), these networks are damaged to varying degrees, which may result in a loss of function (e.g. visual field losses). This loss of function is not only caused by the death of affected cells, but also as a result of inactivity of the surviving cells in the network. </div>
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One of the EBS Therapy mechanisms is to improve the <a href="http://www.ebstech.de/glossary/#residual-function">residual function</a> of these networks by reactivating the surviving but inactive cells and re-including them into the network (neuro-synchronization). In addition to this <a href="http://www.ebstech.de/glossary/#neuroplasticity">neuro-plastic effect</a>, the alternating current stimulation of EBS Therapy also shows a <a href="http://www.ebstech.de/glossary/#neuro-protection">neuro-protective effect</a> as it influences the metabolism of the nerve cells. As a result, EBS Therapy restores parts of the brain functionality or reduces additional loss of function (e.g. glaucoma). </div>
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EBS Therapy stimulates the retina of the patient (<a href="http://www.ebstech.de/glossary/#retino-fugal-stimulation">retino-fugal stimulation</a>) and induces a series of action potentials that travel on the optic nerve back into the visual center of the brain. The brain interprets these signals as light sensations (phosphenes). At the same time, the measurement of brain-only EEG-signals allows for the optimization of pulse sequences in such a way that a sustainable improvement of the residual performance can be achieved (permanent learning effect).</div>
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The EBS Therapy consists of 10 sessions, which are held on 10 consecutive working days. One therapy session lasts up to 70 minutes. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The efficacy of the EBS Therapy was demonstrated in a </span><a href="http://www.ebstech.de/glossary/#randomized-placebo-controlled-double-blind-trial" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">randomized, placebo-controlled, and double-blind trial</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Measurement criteria of this trial were changes in the visual field, which means the spatial perception of the optic nerve. These changes were defined and quantified by <a href="http://www.ebstech.de/glossary/#perimetric-measurement">standardized perimetric measurements</a>. With an average improvement of 24 % of the entire visual field, the trial data proved to be statistically significant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The CE marked EBS Therapy is offered at qualified clinical centers in Germany.</span></div>
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Current experience shows that the treatment success of EBS Therapy can activate <a href="http://www.ebstech.de/glossary/#neuroplasticity">spontaneous processes of brain plasticity</a>, which may lead to further improvement of the patient’s visual performances even after the completion of the therapy. </div>
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Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6057424506734232406.post-24551141499031122612014-07-08T06:35:00.004-07:002014-07-08T11:44:57.656-07:00Dr.’s Dobelle Cortical Visual Implant <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">
<a href="http://bionic-eyes-arms-ukr.blogspot.com/2014/07/blog-post.html" target="_blank">Russian language version</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qC6jMtzhyphenhyphendfHuDHr05LE2cMO_Uyhe_-xH3ShKhYWZEytdCpK1FltvPxyCi5W2IgSS_0B4UBrqHO1BXBabwZNFnAA1RLviSBqdyEEeqDjx7sHF2gYfEsh3s9SqNh9nWtEmvTUnp8MTYIv/s1600/gafas-ciego.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qC6jMtzhyphenhyphendfHuDHr05LE2cMO_Uyhe_-xH3ShKhYWZEytdCpK1FltvPxyCi5W2IgSS_0B4UBrqHO1BXBabwZNFnAA1RLviSBqdyEEeqDjx7sHF2gYfEsh3s9SqNh9nWtEmvTUnp8MTYIv/s1600/gafas-ciego.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.muyinteresante.es/innovacion/medicina/articulo/los-ciegos-recobran-la-vista-con-un-implante-revolucionario" target="_blank">Sourse of the picture</a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have found very
exciting article of Dr. Dobelle “<a href="http://biomed.brown.edu/Courses/BI108/2006-108websites/group03retinalimplants/multimedia/article.pdf" target="_blank">Artificial Vision for the Blind by Connecting a Television Camera to the Visual Cortex</a>”. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">The article was published</span> <span class="hps">in 2000</span><span>, so I would like to</span><span class="hps"> notice</span> <span class="hps">that</span> <span class="hps">many of the characteristics</span> of the <span class="hps">visual</span> <span class="hps">implant</span> <span class="hps"></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">described</span> <span class="hps"></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">below could</span> be improved <span class="hps">since that time.</span> <span class="hps">Personally I was impressed by the fact that </span><span class="hps">the first</span> <span class="hps"></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">cerebral </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">implants</span> aimed <span class="hps">to stimulate</span> <span class="hps">the visual </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">cortex </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">were set</span> up <span class="hps">as early as in</span> <span class="hps">the 70s</span><span class="">.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dr. Dobelle along with more than 300 other scientists, physicians,
engineers and surgeons have been developed cortical visual implant, which
unlike some other artificial vision proposals (e.g. retinal stimulators) is applicable
to virtually all causes of blindness. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps">Particularly</span><span class="">, the presence</span> <span class="hps">of the eyeballs</span><span class=""> is</span> <span class="hps">not necessary </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="hps"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="" id="result_box" lang="en"><span class="">in this case</span></span></span></span>.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The research group have also provided a battery powered, electronic
interface which can replace the camera, permitting the sightless volunteer to
directly watch television and use a computer, including access to the Internet.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSeHnIWcyEcHRgQ64HwUyhZrDaRnB2pDOzIhR8FgQ1VpbAY1f5Dz1sffF1qEBpk9r4WVOMvkm3UQb4qB0-LluFxYG_oB4LRSiNDTNAMBBz91s5HsHvjrfHT79dL9ohBkep9IwXF22DLYg/s1600/fig.2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSeHnIWcyEcHRgQ64HwUyhZrDaRnB2pDOzIhR8FgQ1VpbAY1f5Dz1sffF1qEBpk9r4WVOMvkm3UQb4qB0-LluFxYG_oB4LRSiNDTNAMBBz91s5HsHvjrfHT79dL9ohBkep9IwXF22DLYg/s1600/fig.2.JPG" height="320" width="209" /></span></a></div>
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<i style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The complete artificial vision system showing the computer and
electronics package on the belt with output cable to the electrodes on the
brain.</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">According to the author, the push for his research was made by a seminal
paper published by Giles Brindley’s group in 1968. Their first human
experiments in 1970-1972 involved cortical stimulation of 37 sighted volunteers
who were undergoing surgery on their occipital lobe under local anesthesia to remove
tumors and other lesions. In 1972-1973 they then stimulated the visual cortex
of three blind volunteers who were temporarily implanted for a few days with
electrode arrays. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-US">Their </span><span lang="EN-GB">subsequent
experiments have involved four blind volunteers implanted with permanent
electrode arrays using percutaneous connecting pedestals. Two volunteers were implanted
in 1974. One array was removed 3 months after surgery as planned, and the
second </span><span lang="EN-US">one </span><span lang="EN-GB">after 14 years. The second volunteer
agreed to continue participation but his implant was removed due to a blood
borne infection that did not originate with the implant. The first five volunteers were operated on at
the <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Western Ontario</st1:placename> in <st1:city w:st="on">London</st1:city>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Canada</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
Two additional blind volunteers, including the subject of this article, were
implanted in 1978 at the <st1:placename w:st="on">Columbia-Presbyterian</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">Medical</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype>
in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">New York City</st1:city></st1:place>.
They have both retained their implants for more than 20 years without infection
or other problems.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></b><b style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Volunteer and
Implant</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Dr.Dobelle describes in details a 62 year old patient,
who traumatically lost vision in one eye at age 22, and was totally blinded at
age 36 by a second trauma. He was continually employed, before and after losing
his sight, as an administrator by the State of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">New York</st1:state></st1:place>. He retired in 1997 after 32 years
of service. The electrode was implanted in 1978 when he was 41 years old.</span><span lang="EN-US"> T</span><span lang="EN-GB">he implanted pedestal and intracranial electrode array
were used to experimentally stimulate the visual cortex, on the mesial surface
of the right occipital lobe, for more than 20 years. However, the fifth generation external electronics
package and software are entirely new, taking advantage of cutting edge
technology that has only recently become available. An X-ray of the implanted
visual cortex electrode array i<span style="background-color: white;">s shown <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">in Figure below: </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">X-ray of electrode array
on the mesial surface of the right occipital lobe.</span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The original surgery in 1978 was performed under local anesthesia, and
implants in future patients can probably be performed on an outpatient basis by
most neurosurgeons. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Phosphenes and Their
Map in The Visual Field<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Dr.’s Dobelle visual prosthesis produces black and white display of
visual cortex “phosphenes” analogous to the images projected on the light bulb
arrays of some sports stadium scoreboards.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When stimulated, each electrode produces 1-4 closely spaced phosphenes. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Each phosphene in a cluster ranges up to the diameter of a pencil at
arms length. </span><span lang="EN-US">T</span><span lang="EN-GB">he Dr.’s Dobelle work team determined
that the phosphene map occupies an area roughly 8 inches in height and 3 inches
wide, at arms length. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></b><b style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Electronics
Package</span></span></b></div>
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<b style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The 292 X 512 pixel charge coupled devices (CCD) black and white
television camera is powered by a 9 V battery, and connects via a
battery-powered National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) link to a
sub-notebook computer in a belt pack. This f 14.5 camera, with a 69° field of
view, uses a pinhole aperture, instead of a lens, to minimize size and weight.
It also incorporates an electronic “iris” for automatic exposure control. The
sub-notebook computer incorporates 233 MHz processor, 32 MB of RAM and a 4 GB
hard disk. It also has an LCD screen and keyboard. The belt pack also contains
a second microcontroller, and associated electronics to stimulate the brain. This
stimulus generator is connected through a percutaneous pedestal to the
electrodes implanted on the visual cortex. The computer and electronics package
together are about the size of a dictionary and weigh approximately 10 pounds,
including camera, cables, and rechargeable batteries. The battery pack for the
computer will operate for approximately 3 hours and the battery pack for the
other electronics will operate for approximately 6 hours. This general
architecture, in which one computer interfaces with the camera and a second
computer controls the stimulating electronics, has been used by Dr.’s Dobelle team
in this, and four other substantially equivalent systems, since 1969. The
software involves approximately 25,000 lines of code in addition to the sub-notebooks’
operating system. Most of the code is written in C++, while some is written in
C. The second microcontroller is programmed in assembly language.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To control costs and ensure easy maintenance, the commercial
off-the-shelf (COTS) components are used. The computer, stimulating electronics,
and software are all external, facilitating upgrades and repairs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Performance of the
System<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Т<span lang="EN-GB">he Dr’s Dobelle system provide</span><span lang="EN-US">s</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-GB">low parafoveal tunnel vision. The
picture captured by the patient is black and white with plus field defects (due to gaps between
phosphenes; there is no depth perception.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">
<span lang="EN-GB">The patient learne</span><span lang="EN-US">s</span><span lang="EN-GB"> to use the system within 1 one-day sessions, and he
continue</span><span lang="EN-US">s</span><span lang="EN-GB"> to
practice 3-4 hours per day 2 or 3 days per week. With scanning </span><span lang="EN-US">the patient </span><span lang="EN-GB">can routinely recognize
a 6 inch square “tumbling E” (see pic. [</span>а<span lang="EN-GB">])</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: green;"> </span><span lang="EN-GB">at five feet, as well as Snellen letters <span style="color: green;">[</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: green;">b</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: green;">],</span><span lang="EN-GB"> HOTV test <span style="color: green;">[</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: green;">c</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: green;">],</span><span lang="EN-GB"> Landolt rings <span style="color: green;">[</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: green;">d</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: green;">]</span><span lang="EN-GB">, and Lea figures <span style="color: green;">[</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: green;">e</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: green;">] </span><span lang="EN-GB">of similar size. These psychophysical tests are summarized
in <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Figure below: </span></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQFPq00q1qrTlLQGUsUhKvoMYnCSoVsZo7OuuEjq8TWhYX-JpuDE3XrZU6j0-8VfGLxkTQ1frE3VJcaNQ0dcIgRdIa_jsiOpj4sNk3g65qc9x-QAbECzeinAUN0wyQR1qvt3hoBiCo2g8l/s1600/fig.7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQFPq00q1qrTlLQGUsUhKvoMYnCSoVsZo7OuuEjq8TWhYX-JpuDE3XrZU6j0-8VfGLxkTQ1frE3VJcaNQ0dcIgRdIa_jsiOpj4sNk3g65qc9x-QAbECzeinAUN0wyQR1qvt3hoBiCo2g8l/s1600/fig.7.JPG" height="320" width="225" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"> <o:p></o:p></span><span style="line-height: 150%;">The patient can also count fingers. With the exception of finger
counting, these acuity tests have been conducted using pure black characters on
a pure white background at an illumination greater than 1,000 lux. The volunteer
can recognize a 2-inch high letter at 5 feet. This represents acuity of roughly
20/400.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Paradoxically, larger characters are slightly more difficult for this volunteer
because they extend well beyond the limits of his visual “tunnel”. The rapid
fall-off with characters smaller than 20/1200 is also quite reproducible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Similar acuity results have been achieved with the
television/computer/Internet interface replacing the camera, although scanning
is slower. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Although stimulation of visual cortex in sighted patients frequently produces
colored phosphenes, the phosphenes reported by this volunteer (and all previous
blind volunteers to the best of their knowledge) are colorless. </span><span lang="EN-US">Probably, </span><span lang="EN-GB">this is the result of post-deprivation deterioration
of the cells and/or senaphtic connections required for color vision.
Consequently, color vision may never be possible in this volunteer or in future
patients. However, optical filters could help differentiate colors, and it is
also conceivable that chromatic sensations could be produced if future patients
are implanted shortly after being blinded, before atrophy of the neural network
responsible for color vision.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Contrast</span></b><span lang="EN-GB"> is entirely a function of the
software, with adjustment by the experimental team depending on the
experimental situation. The system also allows “reversal” in which the world
looks much like a black and white photographic negative. Reversal is
particularly useful when presenting black characters on a white background. These
characters are then reversed by the computer so they appear as a matrix of
white phosphenes on the patient’s (otherwise dark) visual field. The phosphene
map is not congruent with the center of the volunteer’s visual field.
Phosphenes also move with eye movement. However, the volunteer’s ability to
fixate with this artificial vision system is a function of aiming the camera
using neck muscles, rather than eye muscles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Edge Detection<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBJU2C6dvt9ySrSlOWWNMdoP5w43l-K7t0yrm45suB5UTvDpf55l9z4tqzOZoTmZwy0B-DJ4CcivDISsCrA5WzRwTH1EkL0RZkk3bDPa3NaEbP4xSIZOsCAiJHWmICpl5obHhnQNxzIyxz/s1600/fig.9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBJU2C6dvt9ySrSlOWWNMdoP5w43l-K7t0yrm45suB5UTvDpf55l9z4tqzOZoTmZwy0B-DJ4CcivDISsCrA5WzRwTH1EkL0RZkk3bDPa3NaEbP4xSIZOsCAiJHWmICpl5obHhnQNxzIyxz/s1600/fig.9.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Picture of the 38 inch high child mannequin, with a second ski cap
placed at a random location on the wall. B, Same scene as above, after
edge-detection using Sobel filters and black/white reversal. The blind
volunteer is able to easily find the cap and detect the wall outlets.
Similarly, doorways appear as an outline of white phosphenes on a black
background. All processing can be performed and transmitted to the patient at 8
frames/second.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ultrasonic Rangefinder<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">While using edge detection, it is particularly helpful for the blind
patient to know how far the wall is located behind the mannequin.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">By placing an electrostatic transducer on the left lens of the patient’s
eyeglasses (lateral to the camera and below the laser pointer) </span><span lang="EN-US">Dobelle’s team </span><span lang="EN-GB">has begun exploring the
supplementary information that can be provided by modulating brightness, blink rate
and identity of selected phosphenes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB"><b>One final comment </b>is that </span><span lang="EN-US">n</span><span lang="EN-GB">one of the
seven blind volunteers </span><span lang="EN-US">of Dr’s Dobelle study </span><span lang="EN-GB">have ever exhibited epileptic symptoms or other
systemic problems related to the implant. Based on clinical experience during
the last 30 years, implanting thousands of patients in more than 40 countries
with other types of neurostimulators (to control breathing, pain, and the urogenital
system), </span><span lang="EN-US">Dobelle’s team
</span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">believes that the
principal risk of their artificial vision device is infection, which might
require removal of the implant in addition to antibiotic therapy.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6057424506734232406.post-27277812233236272882014-05-08T05:49:00.000-07:002014-05-12T04:08:58.482-07:00Biohybird retinal implant<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">
<a href="http://bionic-eyes-arms-ukr.blogspot.com/2014/05/blog-post.html" target="_blank">Russian language version</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy5J0gS3UQSt229fxn1ZSzc5jEw9UZ-mRTzR2xpYNbT-xUNG7aBZ_rDk_Hw2zbtKlVtxbn6FMeDoiZo_GPDZFRV-Bm_myFOXEmAo1kmr5BFEkRZfz6b2f3fWgfyAC4yvvhsbkLoQW4XOrt/s1600/hybrid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy5J0gS3UQSt229fxn1ZSzc5jEw9UZ-mRTzR2xpYNbT-xUNG7aBZ_rDk_Hw2zbtKlVtxbn6FMeDoiZo_GPDZFRV-Bm_myFOXEmAo1kmr5BFEkRZfz6b2f3fWgfyAC4yvvhsbkLoQW4XOrt/s1600/hybrid.jpg" height="122" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The picture is taken from <a href="http://www.io.mei.titech.ac.jp/research/retina/">http://www.io.mei.titech.ac.jp/research/retina/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Recently I found very interesting scientific article "<a href="http://www.kmitl.ac.th/ijabme/transactions/vol2no1/J01.pdf">Biohybrid Visual Prosthesis for Restoring </a><a href="http://www.kmitl.ac.th/ijabme/transactions/vol2no1/J01.pdf">Blindness</a>" of <a href="http://www.io.mei.titech.ac.jp/members/yagi/index.php" target="_blank">Tohru Yagi</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dr. Tohru Yagi's group has been conducting basic research and system design/integration on a biohybird retinal implant, which consists of cultured neurons on MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems). Accordingly, “bio-hybrid" visual prosthesis combines the characteristics of regenerative medicine and visual prostheses. The first prototype consists of an external and an internal device. In operation, visual information is captured by a video camera in the external device. After encoding, this information is then sent to the internal device through an infrared (IR) communication unit. After the internal device receives the IR data, it generates appropriate electric pulses for stimulating the cultured neurons. Then cultured neurons send signals to the brain and the user can recognize visual information. In a biohybrid implant, it is the most prominent feature that the axons of transplanted neurons are used as living electric cables to form functional connections between neurons on the electrode array and the CNS.</span></div>
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The biohybrid implants require the implantation of not only the MEMS, but also the transplantation of nerve cells. Recently, it has been shown that when nerve cells and Schwann cells are together, irrespective of their origin, the visual cortex or periphery, the lengthening of nerve fibers is promoted by factors produced by Schwann cells, and myelin sheath formation occurs. Аn artificial optic nerve is prepared from Schwann cells (a semipermeable membrane tube filled with cultured Schwann cells, extracellular matrix, and neurotrophic factors), the axons of these nerve cells are guided to the higher visual cortex, connecting the MEMS with the visual cortex.</div>
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So, the nerve cells are used as a ‘living electrical cable". Once the connection is complete, it is considered that nerve cells transmit signals to the visual cortex in response to electrical pulses provided by the electrode array. Because nerve cells are transplanted as part of the process of fitting this visual prosthesis, a biohybrid implant is appropriate for blind patientswhose optic nerves and/or retinal ganglion cells are NOT intact such as glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy patients. Although biohybrid implants have advantages, there are many challenges related to nerve cell transplantation. Even if the axons of nerve cells can be guided to the visual cortex, unless a connection is formed between the neurons of the visual cortex and synapses, and a functional connection achieved via neurotransmitters, the signals cannot be communicated. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The fundamental challenge for this prosthesis is the reliable reconstruction of signaltransmission function between an artificial device and transplanted nerve cells, and between transplanted nerve cells and the visual cortex.In addition, the long-term use of metallic electrodes induces connective tissues covering metal parts, and causes glioma aggregation and/or scar formation. Dr. Yagi's group regards it may be possible to develop a conductive polymer electrode that has a high affinity to biological tissues. This electrode may be bound to neural tissues at the molecular level so that a neuron will be stimulated intracellularly or quasi-intracellularly to decrease the threshold current significantly, and the functionality; biocompatibility of electrodes will be improved. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For that purpose, they have been developing the technique of micro/nanofabrication of conductive polymers.</span></div>
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Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6057424506734232406.post-573849600340485192014-03-25T07:41:00.005-07:002014-04-04T03:20:15.352-07:00Subretinal prosthesis Alpha IMS<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://bionic-eyes-arms-ukr.blogspot.com/2014/03/alpha-ims.html" target="_blank">Russian language version</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This post I would like to dedicate to the subretinal prosthesis Alpha IMS produced by Retina Implant AG, Reutlingen, Germany [<a href="http://www.retina-implant.de/default.aspx">company's web-site</a>]. The scientific article of Prof. Eberhart Zrenner, one of the developers of subretinal prosthesis gives quite clear picture of what this prosthesis is [<a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/278/1711/1489.full.pdf+html?sid=64536e10-48db-4f1b-8ca0-4a2f50a956d7">article's link</a>]. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Subretinal prothesis has the microchip which senses light and generates stimulation signals simultaneously at many pixel locations, using microphotodiode arrays. The Subretinal prothesis seeks to replace the function of degenerated photoreceptors directly by translating the light of the image falling onto the retina point by point into small currents that are proportional to the light stimulus. It is the only approach where the photodiode–amplifier–electrode set is contained within a single pixel of the MPDA such that each electrode provides an electrical stimulus to the remaining neurons nearby, thereby reflecting the visual signal that would normally be received via the corresponding, degenerated photoreceptor. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy7gtwNEyTKw_XLewsXMg90dE0Fa5nqXqWDGk7wipVxsgEzMmEfysUa1nDugkWWbYXRj2shWReqyx0aHhbx_WtWBac253OgTGBnmbawZbKSoNc65n5XQYtuKZk20XQ-AIhY1cHW2W0PZb2/s1600/F2.large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy7gtwNEyTKw_XLewsXMg90dE0Fa5nqXqWDGk7wipVxsgEzMmEfysUa1nDugkWWbYXRj2shWReqyx0aHhbx_WtWBac253OgTGBnmbawZbKSoNc65n5XQYtuKZk20XQ-AIhY1cHW2W0PZb2/s1600/F2.large.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Figure 1. Subretinal implant. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(a) The microphotodiode array (MPDA) is a light sensitive 3.0 x 3.1 mm CMOS-chip with 1500 pixel-generating elements on a 20 mkm thick polyimide foil carrying an additional test field with 16 electrodes for direct electrical stimulation (DS test field). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(b) The foil exits approximately 25 mm away from the tip at the equator of the eyeball and is attached to the sclera by means of a small fixation pad looping through the orbit to a subcutaneous silicone cable that connects via a plug behind the ear to a power control unit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(c) Magnification of the DS electrode array showing the 16 quadruple electrodes and their dimensions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(d) Pattern stimulation via DS array (e.g. ‘U’). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(e,f ) switching from a triangle to a square by shifting stimulation of a single electrode. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(g) Magnification of four of the 1500 elements (‘pixels’), showing the rectangular photodiodes above each squared electrode and its contact hole that connects it to the amplifier circuit (overlaid sketch).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/278/1711/1489.full.pdf+html?sid=64536e10-48db-4f1b-8ca0-4a2f50a956d7" target="_blank">The picture is taken from the article "Subretinal electronic chips allow blind patients to read letters and combine them to words", E. Zrenner et al.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Essentially, an image is captured several times per second simultaneously by all photodiodes. Each element (‘pixel’) generates monophasic anodic voltage pulses at its electrode. Thus, pixelized repetitive stimulation is delivered simultaneously by all electrodes to adjacent groups of bipolar cells, the amount of current provided by each electrode being dependent on the brightness at each photodiode. Light is converted to charge pulses by each pixel. The chip is estimated to cover a visual angle of approximately 11º by 11º (1º approx. 288 mkm on the retina). The distance between two MPDA electrodes corresponds to a visual angle of 15 min of arc. Although small, it is sufficient for orientation and object localization, as is well established in patients with peripheral retinal dystrophies. Reading requires a field of 3 by 5 degrees.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikG8vQFGf9FlbN9014AFasMw2eV-Wcsg0EOYzClMRK6rxJOK5KnY6AW0F9nYhUS0IAEadGckY0CcBVaCuIVZi_a6mh2O_Xg1d9qR-O9tgBRQebh1eYOhMWoCZIiyktmaF1Vh8WoFcp8ekm/s1600/pic1_engl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikG8vQFGf9FlbN9014AFasMw2eV-Wcsg0EOYzClMRK6rxJOK5KnY6AW0F9nYhUS0IAEadGckY0CcBVaCuIVZi_a6mh2O_Xg1d9qR-O9tgBRQebh1eYOhMWoCZIiyktmaF1Vh8WoFcp8ekm/s1600/pic1_engl.JPG" height="271" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Figure 2. Implant position in the body. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(a) The cable from the implanted chip in the eye leads under the temporal muscle to the exit behind the ear, and connects with a wirelessly operated power control unit. </span></div>
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(b) Position of the implant under the transparent retina. </div>
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(c) MPDA photodiodes, amplifiers and electrodes in relation to retinal neurons and pigment epithelium. </div>
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(d) Patient with wireless control unit attached to a neckband. </div>
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(e) Route of the polyimide foil (red) and cable (green) in the orbit in a three-dimensional reconstruction </div>
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of CT scans. </div>
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(f) Photograph of the subretinal implant’s tip at the posterior eye pole through a patient’s pupil.</div>
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<a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/278/1711/1489.full.pdf+html?sid=64536e10-48db-4f1b-8ca0-4a2f50a956d7" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The picture is taken from the article "Subretinal electronic chips allow blind patients to read letters and combine them to words", E. Zrenner et al.</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Because Alpha IMS microchip receives the image not from the external camera, but via eye, it is the only one retinal implant so far, where the image receiver array moves exactly with the eye. This has practical implications, as natural eye movements can be used to find and fixate a target.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In summer 2013 Alpha IMS <a href="http://www.blindness.org/index.php?view=article&id=3598%3Aalpha-ims-becomes-second-bionic-retina-approved-in-europe&option=com_content&Itemid=121" target="_blank">received a CE Mark</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Price around 100,000 EUROs (<a href="https://www.google.com.ua/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCgQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hsc.nihr.ac.uk%2Ffiles%2Fdownloads%2F2043%2F2380.f57701a4.AlphaIMSretinalimplantforretinitispigmentosa.pdf&ei=iEEwU6fOJOLmywOrxoGACw&usg=AFQjCNHYAxecEG5_MotqqN4kXwSlNvix6Q&bvm=bv.62922401,d.bGQ" target="_blank">as of April, 2013</a>). </span>Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6057424506734232406.post-65477343723723171322014-03-17T03:21:00.001-07:002014-03-25T08:11:54.928-07:00BrainPort Device helps sightless to see by tongue<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://bionic-eyes-arms-ukr.blogspot.com/2014/03/brainport.html" target="_blank">Russian language version</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">B</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">y Wicab, Inc. (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Middleton</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">WI</st1:state></st1:place>) </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">it
</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">is being developed the device that by which blind
people </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">may </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;">"see"
the outworld by the tongue. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
unique technology was invented by Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita in 1998 [<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3606019/" target="_blank">analyticalarticle of Kenneth S. Suslick</a>].
The technology allows transferring images from digital camera to the electrode array
that sits upon tongue and stimulates its receptors.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">More details about the device</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Visual
system BrainPort developed by Wicab, Inc. [<i><a href="http://www.wicab.com/index.html" target="_blank">company'sweb</a></i>] works in the following way: video
comes from the camera attached to the forehead to the processor that controls
zoom, brightness and other parameters of the image. Processor also converts the
digital signals into electrical impulses and actually takes over the function
of the retina.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Electrode array
of 3x3 cm is comprised of more than 600 electrodes, each of which corresponds
to several pixels in the camera. Light intensity directly affects the strength
and duration of the current electrical signals which the tongue feels.
Electrode array provides spatial orientation due to the flash in the center of
the visual field is displayed in the form of a pulse in the middle of the array.
White dots are transmitted by high electrical signal and black ones by the
absence of voltage. Nerve endings dotting the tongue perceive these pulses. The
volunteers have the feeling of champagne bubbles. It is still unclear where the
data go further: to a visual or somatosensory cortex [material is taken from <a href="http://www.membrana.ru/particle/1131"><span lang="EN-GB">http://www.membrana.ru/particle/1131</span></a>].<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4-nT0D6G5lYYiI0JLC_h-mQ2CvFFQj8kUA7hC2MQne8cUwrgvP7ZaiObSyXz_AvXzeCcGzmtF2bOt5D_OJYjJfkdAUsghZ2DcJlbFCdnR9ZnmmDhCpkneYMVpDY81AebZF60mzl1RACzi/s1600/engl_rp_january_a07_fig03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4-nT0D6G5lYYiI0JLC_h-mQ2CvFFQj8kUA7hC2MQne8cUwrgvP7ZaiObSyXz_AvXzeCcGzmtF2bOt5D_OJYjJfkdAUsghZ2DcJlbFCdnR9ZnmmDhCpkneYMVpDY81AebZF60mzl1RACzi/s1600/engl_rp_january_a07_fig03.jpg" height="184" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">The device
provides blind people by monochrome vision, the ability to see not just spots,
but objects. Sightless have the possibility to make their usual actions: pour
coffee, press the elevator button, read what is written on the wall.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfRE_xQi4GS3XAc0oqvKFGHOIOqj2WwrHEg1QqUJscbuB1mnGKNyoQuId2dwFKyb3vDa_TGW9GdCkYHHE1V2cBaX56_jU6NqSRBVu9rL3_Hg1I0Tx4VPc156P9VPnw7Y9PuCDyLAWTZwp/s1600/RP_January_A07_Fig04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfRE_xQi4GS3XAc0oqvKFGHOIOqj2WwrHEg1QqUJscbuB1mnGKNyoQuId2dwFKyb3vDa_TGW9GdCkYHHE1V2cBaX56_jU6NqSRBVu9rL3_Hg1I0Tx4VPc156P9VPnw7Y9PuCDyLAWTZwp/s1600/RP_January_A07_Fig04.jpg" height="176" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">About the development of the invention</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dr. Paul
Bach-y-Rita (1934-2006) started to conduct experiments with visual perception
through tactile contact in the late 1960s. Initially he developed so-called
tactile vision substitution systems capable to deliver visual information to
the brain through the stimulants that are in contact with skin of one of several
parts of the body (abdomen, back, thigh, fingertips). After sufficient trainings,
blind people could feel the image in space rather than on the skin.
Nevertheless, the success of the results was limited by inconvenience of practical
application of the devices. Mechanical vibrotactile system were bulky and
consumed a lot of energy, and electrotactile
systems required high voltages, especially in the areas of the fingertips due
to the thick protective layer between the external environment and skin sensory
receptors.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">The tongue is
very sensitive and mobile, and since it is in the protected area of the mouth,
sensory receptors are close to the surface. Furthermore, saliva perfectly conducts
electrical impulses. That is why Dr. Paul Bach-y-Rita conducted an experiment
with tongue receptors [<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10220221" target="_blank">Scientist’s article</a></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">]
and demonstrated that tongue requires only 3% (5-15 V) of the voltage and much
less current (0.4-2.0 mA), compared to the fingertips.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Watch the video from BBC:</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13358608" target="_blank">Erik Weihenmayer: the blind rock climber who sees with his tongue</a></span><br />
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*All pictures are taken from the company-producer's website<br />
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Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6057424506734232406.post-7226869143203173652014-02-11T12:46:00.000-08:002015-05-06T10:41:37.251-07:00OrCam: smart glasses<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="http://bionic-eyes-arms-ukr.blogspot.com/2014/03/orcam.html" target="_blank">Russian language version</a></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ATcYqqBwtAI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">OrCam is a smart camera mounted on the frames of your eyeglasses, which “sees” text, recognizes objects and “whispers” in your ear. OrCam is a sensor that sees what is in front of you, understands what information you seek and provides it to you through a bone-conduction earpiece. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The device enables you to read books or newspapers, verify money note denominations, and even identify which product or item you are pointing at. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">When you point to a specific article or paragraph, OrCam will start reading from the beginning of that section. Its powerful computer translates the printed word into audio in under two seconds. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">At the moment the Price is $2,500.00</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sourse is <a href="http://www.orcam.com/" target="_blank">http://www.orcam.com/ </a></span><br />
<br />Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6057424506734232406.post-83277504895238836472014-02-09T10:18:00.000-08:002014-10-09T03:24:49.120-07:00Retinal Prosthesis Argus® II <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">
<a href="http://bionic-eyes-arms-ukr.blogspot.com/2014/03/c-argus-ii.html" target="_blank">Russian language version</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWaAt6wCKPxV5l0IjaU06aTzxYYcTUC4dgq2mWGm9zAMUCYqQh6QSyRqRtSsWCVleFZE5KVqRwqMUHdZkai47C1G1WSuT0alzKgmKu11KSqKzCCmp_zqvd42xrgUYRSlpXp31J2ptx29Bc/s1600/Argus+II.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWaAt6wCKPxV5l0IjaU06aTzxYYcTUC4dgq2mWGm9zAMUCYqQh6QSyRqRtSsWCVleFZE5KVqRwqMUHdZkai47C1G1WSuT0alzKgmKu11KSqKzCCmp_zqvd42xrgUYRSlpXp31J2ptx29Bc/s1600/Argus+II.jpg" height="207" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span><span class="" id="parent-fieldname-imageCaption">Image provided by Dr. Wentai Liu </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOS4Kf6mCrt5hZN5gL_8GPvXJEKoWP3SmPTt4jLALaRM9AEJOwexz8Tep9xMQKJcxkEFyn9Qujcbj7sO3dFJPfPYvGIbM733irFP9kCVu2N7hHYVmDkwMzejHwByUrdeH7V7v6n17ZyC_/s1600/Argus+II_Liu2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOS4Kf6mCrt5hZN5gL_8GPvXJEKoWP3SmPTt4jLALaRM9AEJOwexz8Tep9xMQKJcxkEFyn9Qujcbj7sO3dFJPfPYvGIbM733irFP9kCVu2N7hHYVmDkwMzejHwByUrdeH7V7v6n17ZyC_/s1600/Argus+II_Liu2.png" height="272" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="" id="parent-fieldname-imageCaption"><a href="http://www.bioeng.ucla.edu/news/news-archive/2013/professor-wentai-liu-helps-develop-the-argus-ii-retinal-prosthesis-system-to-help-partially-restore-vision-for-blind-patients" target="_blank">Sourse of images</a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b> What Argus® II is? </b><br /><br />A retinal prosthesis is a biomedical implant intended to partially restore useful vision to people who have lost their sight </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4kSslWwL4ZR5MWsqm_gC-NI2MDHiQUxRYLwa75k1JvuxQ0Y7mMJGX4pYAKwzAX-zuEBo6-LsjUMyYFAv8cw19ieZLpO3N9d5HAqgv9pOZu5PVF2j4S4fmoOB8FYSYAW5932uZjomlpkm_/s1600/42857_original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4kSslWwL4ZR5MWsqm_gC-NI2MDHiQUxRYLwa75k1JvuxQ0Y7mMJGX4pYAKwzAX-zuEBo6-LsjUMyYFAv8cw19ieZLpO3N9d5HAqgv9pOZu5PVF2j4S4fmoOB8FYSYAW5932uZjomlpkm_/s1600/42857_original.jpg" height="178" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">due to a degenerative retinal disease such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP) that severely damages the photoreceptors in the eye. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://i-future.livejournal.com/631643.html" target="_blank">The sourse of picture</a></span><br /><b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>How does it work? </b><br /><br />Argus II bypasses the damaged photoreceptors altogether. A miniature video camera housed in the patient’s glasses captures a scene. The video is sent to a small patient-worn computer (i.e., the video processing unit – VPU) where it is processed and transformed into instructions that are sent back to the glasses via a cable. These instructions are transmitted wirelessly to an antenna in the implant. The signals are then sent to the electrode array, which emits small pulses of electricity. These pulses bypass the damaged photoreceptors and stimulate the retina’s remaining cells, which transmit the visual information along the optic nerve to the brain, creating the perception of patterns of light. Patients learn to interpret these visual patterns. <br /><br /><b>What kind of sight loss for? </b><br /><br />Argus II currently provides some useful vision to patients with severe to profound vision loss due to outer retinal degeneration, such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP) . <br /><br /><b>What patient can see? </b><br /><br />Argus II provides “somewhat pixelized” vision composed of spots of light which, in an ideal case, cover the central 20° visual field. This can be compared to a 30 cm ruler held out at arm’s length. <br />Some patients are able to easily discern forms, identify large written characters, and locate light sources, while others are not able to interpret spatial information about the visual scene with their system. In the study, patients were consistently better at performing orientation and mobility tasks using Argus II. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As of March 2014 in commercial use and clinical
trials, the Argus II system has been implanted into over 80 people<span lang="EN-US"> (</span><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22342306" target="_blank">Fernandes RA et al</a><span lang="EN-US">).</span> The best result achieved
by the device was a visual acuity of 20/1260<span lang="EN-US">. Just to compare, the </span>blindness is defined as
greater than 20/500 by the World Health Organization.<br /><br /><b>Where is it approved? </b><br /><br />Argus II is approved for use in the European Economic Area (CE Mark) in 2011. Since February 2013 also is approved in USA by FDA: <a href="http://www.fda.gov/medicaldevices/productsandmedicalprocedures/deviceapprovalsandclearances/recently-approveddevices/ucm343162.htm" target="_blank">statement </a></span>Helen Marka.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02998468037546453403noreply@blogger.com0