Device May Allow Blind to Read Braille Without Touch
Nov-29-2012

A blind patient was able to read Braille patterns that were streamed directly onto the retina using a special device, researchers say.
The patient could read words with up to four letters accurately and quickly with the Argus II. The device uses a small camera mounted on a pair of glasses, a portable processor to translate the image from the camera into electrical stimulation, and a microchip and electrodes implanted directly on the retina, according to Second Sight, the company that developed the Argus II.
The study was conducted by Second Sight researchers and published Nov. 21 in the journal Frontiers of Neuroprosthetics.
The device has been implanted in about 50 blind people, and many of them are now able to see color, movement and objects, the researchers reported.
"In this clinical test with a single blind patient, we bypassed the camera that is the usual input for the implant and directly stimulated the retina," study lead author Thomas Lauritzen said in a journal news release. "Instead of feeling the Braille on the tips of his fingers, the patient could see the patterns we projected and then read individual letters in less than a second with up to 89 percent accuracy."

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