I found something on the web that might be of interest, but your
question of how these chips will work with atrophied retinas is a great
question. I think Chris has it when he says the optical nerve is a good
idea. This device I read about on the net displays images on the retina
directly. Eventually, they want to reduce it to the size of
sunglasses. They have an article on people w/low vision, and how this
VRD(Virtual Retinal Display) can help them. It seems the lab is working
with VR from looking at their projects. Here's the URL:
http://www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/vrd/
Go ahead and check out their other projects.
>
> The optic nerve remains intact but there are claims it is too difficult
> to attach to.
Ahh, but it was once too difficult to get off the surface of
earth(although, it still is too expensive, but hopefully, with the new X
series of vehicles, it will provide a cheaper means of escape). There
were claims the earth was flat. There are all kinds of claims that have
been proven wrong. I believe that we can do it. It may take a while,
but it's not impossible.
This amazes me since my sisters cochlear implant and newest
> speach processor have returned almost all her hearing. How is the optic
> nerve so much different from the auditory nerve that we can successful
> interface with the auditory nerve but not with the optic nerve?
> If we can incorporate CCTV magnification technology, OCR (Optical
> Charachter Recognition), and light filtering mechanisms, with
> biological/artificial eyes, subcutaneous computer chips, and the optic
> nerve, we'd be in a good position to cure many forms of blindness. We'd
> also greatly enhance human ability to use our sense of sight in far
> greater ways.
>
Hey, imagine if we started working on similar technologies for the ear
implants. The ability to hear distances greater than we can normally
hear now. The ability to hear a whisper without straining. The ability
to adjust our level of hearing based on who's speaking(I have this
problem at work with a soft spoken co-worker), the ability to filter
backgroun noise. The ability to "turn off sound", so as not to damage
our ears(kind of like ear plugs). All kinds of possibilities.
Far range vision, macro-micro, UV,
> IR, thermal imaging, photo sensitive shading, downloading everything you
> saw that day to computer backup, - endless possibilities.
Oh, please, please, please, don't taunt me like that. I can't wait
until that day. MMM, MMM, MMM!!!
The ultimate
> would be interfacing computer output directly into your optic nerve
> without needing a monitor to give new meanings to the terms VR and
> portability .
This is similar to the VRD that I mentioned above, except instead of the
Optic Nerve, it works with the retina. I'm sorry it probably won't be
able to help you, but it's a start on something. Don't forget to check
out the page.
>
> peace, love, and understanding
> tony0@juno.com
Peace,
-dave