New paths for visual prosthesis
Brief plain language background
Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness, often damaging the optic nerve beyond the reach of retinal prosthetics. Visual brain prosthetics offer a promising alternative for patients with near-complete blindness. This project directly addresses key limitations in resolution and contrast, which are critical for achieving meaningful vision restoration in glaucoma. Prioritising glaucoma reflects its prevalence and the potential to significantly improve the quality of life for those with limited treatment options.
What problem/knowledge gap does it help address
Current visual prosthetics struggle to deliver truly useful vision due to poor resolution and signal clarity, stemming from phosphenes fusion and increased neural noise in damaged systems. This project addresses the critical knowledge gap surrounding optimal stimulation strategies for visual brain prosthetics.
Specifically, we will investigate whether ‘hybrid stimulation’ and ‘noise-cancellation’ (promising in simulations) can improve vision in biological experiments. Bridging this gap is vital to unlock the potential of these devices, particularly for patients with glaucoma or complete sight loss, offering significantly improved functional vision and quality of life – paving the way towards clinically viable solutions.
Aim of the project
To Attain preliminary data for two new methodologies: (i) Hybrid stimulation – to improve resolution (2) noise-cancellation stimulation – to improve contrast.
Potential impact on people with sight loss
Target cohort: This research has the potential to improve the lives of individuals with near-total sight loss significantly. The primary group are those with glaucoma who have progressed to 20:400 or worse in both eyes. The prevalence of this cohort is approximately 1 in 2,000.
Benefit: Pharmaceutical and surgical interventions can slow the progression of glaucoma but not reverse lost sight. This research aims to overcome the fundamental bottlenecks of prosthetic vision. A result could be to restore rudimentary, but functional vision, providing for navigation and thus significant daily independence to those with near or complete sight loss.