Navigation Links
MIT 'seeing machine' offers hope to blind

An MIT poet has developed a small, relatively inexpensive "seeing machine" that can allow people who are blind, or visually challenged like her, to access the Internet, view the face of a friend, "previsit" unfamiliar buildings and more.

Recently the machine received positive feedback from 10 visually challenged people with a range of causes for their vision loss who tested it in a pilot clinical trial. The work was reported in Optometry, the Journal of the American Optometric Association, earlier this year.

The work is led by Elizabeth Goldring, a senior fellow at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies. She developed the machine over the last 10 years, in collaboration with more than 3O MIT students and some of her personal eye doctors. The new device costs about $4,000, low compared to the $100,000 price tag of its inspiration, a machine Goldring discovered through her eye doctor.

Goldring's adventures at the intersection of art and high technology began with a visit to her doctor, Lloyd Aiello, head of the Beetham Eye Institute of the Joslin Diabetes Center. At the time, Goldring was blind. (Surgeries have since restored vision in one eye).

To better examine her eyes, Aiello asked her to go to the Schepens Eye Research Institute at Harvard, where technicians peered into her eyes with a diagnostic device known as a scanning laser opthalmoscope, or SLO. With the machine they projected a simple image directly onto the retina of one eye, past the hemorrhages within the eye that contributed to her blindness. The idea was to determine whether she had any healthy retina left.

It turns out that she did, and was able to see the image - a stick figure of a turtle. But the turtle wasn't very interesting, Goldring said. So she asked if they could write the word "sun" and transmit that through the SLO. "And I could see it!" she said. "That was the first time in several months that I'd seen a word, and for a poet that's an incredible f
'"/>

Source:Massachusetts Institute of Technology


Page: 1 2 3 4

Related biology news :

1. Protein offers way to stop microscopic parasites in their tracks
2. Gene silencing technique offers new strategy for treating, curing disease
3. Mosaic mouse technique offers a powerful new tool to study diseases and genetics
4. Engineered skin offers clues to melanoma development
5. GM crop that holds on to its seeds offers higher yields
6. Novel enzyme offers new look at gene regulation
7. Technique offers new view of dynamic biological landscape
8. Microbiology text tells stories, offers online resources
9. Detection of DNA on nanotubes offers new sensing, sequencing technologies
10. Antioxidant selenium offers no heart-disease protection
11. Engineered heart tissue offers insights into irregular heartbeats, defibrillator failure
Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: MIT seeing machine offers hope blind

(Date:2/9/2010)... CITY, Calif. , Feb. 9 ... fingerprint identity and authentication solutions, continues to ... for restaurants and franchise owners.  The latest ... ™ restaurant Point-of-Sale (POS) software, featuring U.are.U® ... unveiled at the Digital Dining National Dealer ...
(Date:2/8/2010)... A Mediterranean diet may help people avoid the ... problems with thinking and memory, according to a study ... Academy of Neurology,s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April ... found that people who ate a Mediterranean-like diet were ... of dead tissue linked to thinking problems. , ...
(Date:2/8/2010)... [Brown University] Around 30 to 40 million years ... An assemblage capitalized on falling levels of atmospheric carbon ... dwindling CO2 supply that, like a fuel-injection system in ... into energy. , The rise of C4 grasses is ... now make up to 20 percent of our planet,s ...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Digital Dining Customers Demand Fingerprint Biometrics in Point-of-Sale Technology 2Digital Dining Customers Demand Fingerprint Biometrics in Point-of-Sale Technology 3Mediterranean diet may lower risk of brain damage that causes thinking problems 2Brown biologist solves mystery of tropical grasses' origin 2Brown biologist solves mystery of tropical grasses' origin 3Glucose metabolism and recidivism of severe violent crimes in alcohol intoxications 47468 1Glucose metabolism and recidivism of severe violent crimes in alcohol intoxications 47468 2Genedata Launches Expressionist with Expanded Mass Spectrometry Biomarker Discovery Capabilities 12389 1Genedata Launches Expressionist with Expanded Mass Spectrometry Biomarker Discovery Capabilities 12389 2Genedata Launches Expressionist with Expanded Mass Spectrometry Biomarker Discovery Capabilities 12389 3Cyberonics Announces Exclusive Distribution Agreement With Nihon Kohden in Japan 47462 1Cyberonics Announces Exclusive Distribution Agreement With Nihon Kohden in Japan 47462 2Cyberonics Announces Exclusive Distribution Agreement With Nihon Kohden in Japan 47462 3Cyberonics Announces Exclusive Distribution Agreement With Nihon Kohden in Japan 47462 4
... aging muscles don't heal like young ones. But it turns ... Feb. 17 issue of Nature shows that it's old blood ... Thomas Rando, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology and neurological ... previous work showing that old muscles have the capacity to ...
... for the first time that human eggs may develop ... from adult human ovaries. Oocytes derived from the culture ... suitable for fertilization and development into an embryo. These ... Biology and Endocrinology, offer important new strategies for use ...
... received islet transplantation from a single donor pancreas were ... in the February 16 issue of JAMA, a theme ... diabetes remains a therapeutic challenge, according to background information ... that produce insulin to control blood sugar levels) transplants ...
Other Biology News:Young Blood Revives Aging Muscles, Stanford Researchers Find 2Young Blood Revives Aging Muscles, Stanford Researchers Find 3Human Eggs Can Develop From Ovarian Surface Cells In Vitro 2Single-donor Islet Transplantation Procedure Shows Promise For Patients With Type 1 Diabetes 2
(Date:2/8/2010)... Feb. 8 Biocell Center ... maternal-fetal-medicine doctors by attending the Society for Maternal-Fetal ... been working with perinatologists and Ob/Gyn doctors worldwide ... CEO of Biocell Center Corporation. "We understand the ... and families and we are hoping to inform ...
(Date:2/8/2010)... clinical services team to present the critical processes that comprise ... departments. , ... Chicago, IL (PRWEB) ... Trial Operations (CTO) software, today announced that both Kristin Lucas ... selected to speak at the CBI Forecasting & Budgeting conference ...
(Date:2/8/2010)... (HDS) is pleased to announce that it has hired Lisa Wichman ... Ms. Wichman joins HDS as an Account Manager and will focus on ... Division as the Manager of that group Omaha, NE. , ... Foothill ... (HDS) is pleased to announce the hiring of a new Account Manager ...
(Date:2/5/2010)... Spanish . , Scientists at the ... the first time different antioxidant compounds from foods such ... called Teucrium polium. They have used two new techniques, ... enabled them to identify and quantify a great part ... Functional foods such as olive oil, honey, walnuts and ...
Breaking Biology Technology:Biocell Center Furthers Its Commitment to Maternal-Fetal Medicine 2ClearTrial Selected to Provide Methodologies for Accurately Forecasting and Budgeting Clinical Spend and Integrated Financial Controls at CBI Conference 2ClearTrial Selected to Provide Methodologies for Accurately Forecasting and Budgeting Clinical Spend and Integrated Financial Controls at CBI Conference 3ClearTrial Selected to Provide Methodologies for Accurately Forecasting and Budgeting Clinical Spend and Integrated Financial Controls at CBI Conference 4Healthcare Data Solutions Announces Expansion of its Healthcare Customer Solutions Team With Two Key Additions 2Healthcare Data Solutions Announces Expansion of its Healthcare Customer Solutions Team With Two Key Additions 3New antioxidant compounds have been identified in foods such as olive oil, honey and nuts 2
... 31 Varian, Inc.,(NasdaqGS: VARI) announced today ... high temperature gas chromatography (GC), which is ... highly durable columns,allow chemists to confidently analyze ... degrees Celsius. Based on a stainless steel ...
... BioSpace, the world,s leading,online bioscience job board and ... BioMidwest Career Fair in Chicago, IL on Tuesday ... the Chicago Marriott Oak Brook from 11 am ... ), Midwest life science professionals from states ...
... PIP ) a biodefense company developing medical ... results for the,year ended December 31, 2007., ... commented, "In,2007 we continued to advance both our ... of important milestones which included,obtaining additional contract and ...
Other Biology Technology:New Capillary Column From Varian, Inc. Offers Durability and Performance for High Temperature GC and GC/MS 2Chicago Biotech Career Fair to Draw Hundreds of Bioscience Candidates and Top Employers 2PharmAthene Reports Year-End 2007 Financial Results 2PharmAthene Reports Year-End 2007 Financial Results 3PharmAthene Reports Year-End 2007 Financial Results 4PharmAthene Reports Year-End 2007 Financial Results 5PharmAthene Reports Year-End 2007 Financial Results 6PharmAthene Reports Year-End 2007 Financial Results 7PharmAthene Reports Year-End 2007 Financial Results 8PharmAthene Reports Year-End 2007 Financial Results 9
Request Info...
Request Info...
Bethyl Laboratories packages antibodies, conjugates and calibrators to provide quantitative ELISA kits. Each kit contains the following components, sufficient for 1000 single well assays....
Epi-Grids™ Colony Grid Templates are easy-to-use griding templates that allow rapid organization of colonies from initial screening plates and for preparing precise master plates....
Biology Products: