Blind patients read again with smart glasses-linked eye implant

Patients wore these astute glasses that paired to a retinal implant successful their eye.

Several twelve patients with imaginativeness nonaccomplishment owed to a progressive signifier of blindness called age-related macular degeneration (AMD) regained immoderate of their cardinal imaginativeness acknowledgment to an oculus implant paired with a acceptable of astute glasses. The study was published Monday successful The New England Journal of Medicine, and researchers report that patients could spot good capable utilizing the exertion to capable retired crossword puzzles and work regular books again. Participants included radical aged 60 oregon older with diagnosed AMD successful some eyes, and ocular impairment of a measured ocular acuity of astatine slightest 1.2 logMAR oregon worse successful the survey eye.

AMD cannot beryllium reversed due to the fact that cells successful the halfway of the patients’ retinas dice implicit time. The survey focused connected restoring immoderate of that mislaid imaginativeness utilizing a 2-by-2-millimeter instrumentality made of tiny photovoltaic star panels. The instrumentality was surgically implanted nether the retina successful the patient’s eye. Patients wore camera-equipped astute glasses, which transmitted zoomed-in images of the satellite to the retinal implant utilizing adjacent infrared light. The retinal implant past pulsed tiny electrical signals into the optic nerve, mimicking what the cells of the retina would usually do. 

The survey started disconnected with 38 patients who received the retinal implant, 32 of whom stayed successful the objective proceedings for a afloat year. At the 1 twelvemonth mark, 26 of the 32 participants could spot amended than erstwhile they started — an 80 percent occurrence rate. It’s not perfect; patients tin lone spot a blurry imaginativeness of the satellite and lone successful achromatic and white. But researchers uninvolved successful the survey called the enactment “amazing,” arsenic reported by The New York Times. 

The exertion comes from the brain-computer interface institution Science Corporation, whose laminitis and CEO, Max Hodak, cofounded Neuralink successful 2016 with Elon Musk. Science Corporation acquired the retinal implant exertion from the French aesculapian instrumentality institution Pixium Vision successful 2024 aft it ran retired of wealth aft a decennary of moving to make the imaginativeness technology, arsenic reported by IEEE Spectrum. It was a akin communicative to different well-known imaginativeness prosthesis company, Second Sight Medical, whose abandoned technology was rescued by different aesculapian exertion startup, allowing the clinical proceedings to continue.