For many people, not being able to see anymore is the biggest nightmare. But unfortunately, there are many individuals who develop such issues or are even born with them. But technology goes through improvements year by year, and once again, we’re witnessing something remarkable.
According to NPR.org, a blind person working as a science teacher and dealing with blindness for 16 years has been able to see again thanks to a visual prosthesis that contains a brain implant.
Will blindness stop being an issue anymore?
Berna Gómez is the teacher in question, and she was 57 years old at the time of the study. Thanks to the tech gimmick, she was able of some remarkable things giving her problem. She was able to understand letters, objects’ edges, and even play a video game.
Spanish and American researchers made the prosthesis possible, and there were’t no health complications occurring due to the implant. A microelectrode array was added to the visual cortex of the teacher. A video camera was also mounted for sending visual information directly to the brain.
Eduardo Fernández of Miguel Hernández University, who is one of the lead researchers, declared:
These results are very exciting because they demonstrate both safety and efficacy,
We have taken a significant step forward, showing the potential of these types of devices to restore functional vision for people who have lost their vision.
The teacher has also undergone a training period, and after it was finished, she was able to understand the content of the visual information that was provided to her through the camera.
In 2015 alone, there was an estimated amount of 253 million individuals across the world who were suffering from visual impairment. 36 million of these individuals were blind.
