![]() ![]() The camera attached to the system may be able to handle this, but whether the sound waves are capable to transmit such small details to the retinal neurons without merging into each other? To accomplish this, the incoming images should contain many individual points. One of the most important requirements of the visual prosthesis is for the user to be able to see images as sharply as possible. The study demonstrated that when the ultrasound is projected as a pattern on the retina (for example, the letter "C") it was possible to measure corresponding activities in the superior colliculus. By placing a multi-electrode array in this area, it was possible to record retinal activation by electrophysiology. The team resolved this problem by measuring visual activities directly from the rat's visual brain area known as the superior colliculus, to which the optic nerve is directly connected. A major limitation of animal experiments is that unlike in humans, we cannot get answers about their visual experiences during ultrasound stimulation of the eye. The study is now at an earlier stage of developing a device to conduct human experiments. According to him, "It still needs to be figured out how exactly the mechanical pressure activated retinal neurons." students who recently presented the results of the research at a conference of the Acoustical Society of America in Seattle. "We know that ultrasound can generate well-controlled mechanical pressure, the acoustic radiation force, and it could be utilized to active neurons," says Gengxi Lu, one of Zhou's Ph.D. Humayun, who is a pioneer in the field of retinal prosthesis, stated that "the challenge remains to enable ultrasound elicited visual perception so that it can provide useful vision for the blind." For a comparable experience, anyone can feel light phosphenes by rubbing your eyes or by gently pushing your eyeballs while the eyes are closed. The mechanical pressure by sound can activate neurons in the eye and send signals to the brain. This approach made it possible to activate small groups of neurons in the rat's eye, just like light signals can activate a normal eye. These high-frequency sounds can be well-manipulated and can be focused on a desired area of the eye. To see if this approach could work, the group stimulated a blind rat's eyes with ultrasound waves, sound with a frequency far above what a human can hear. "Special glasses with a camera and an ultrasound transducer are intended to give blind and partially sighted people a new view of the world." "This is a step towards a non-invasive retinal prosthesis that works without invasive eye surgeries," Dr. Humayun, Professor of Ophthalmology and Biomedical Engineering, and one of the inventors of Argus II at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, U.S. Qifa Zhou, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Ophthalmology, and Mark S. A new promising solution based on activating these neurons by ultrasound has been recently achieved by a research group led by Drs. ![]()
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