Retinal prostheses promise a potential to restore sight in millions of blind people, but new milestones in this technology have been difficult to achieve. Most advancements have improved signal gathering and transmission, but that’s like turning up the volume on a conversation in a language you poorly understand. One major stumbling block has been deciphering the code that is used for the retina to communicate with the brain.
Researchers at Weill Medical College of Cornell University focused on deciphering the signal and mimicking it to replicate a normal retina using a prosthesis. The research showed substantial improvement (see image) in the quality of the image delivered to the brains of rats. The team believes that with further improvement, it should be possible in the not too distant future to achieve a quality of vision that approaches that of healthy individuals.