More than 43 million people worldwide are blind. In the past 30 years, that number has increased by roughly 50 percent. Most blind people are born with normal vision and lose their sight over time, due to medical causes or an accident. Often, the visual cortex in the brain is still capable of interpreting electrical signals, but the eyes or the connection between the eyes and brain are damaged or lost. It is possible to restore some form of sight by providing the right electrical signals to the visual cortex with an implant. PhD researcher Tom van Nunen has designed a wireless energy transfer system to safely and reliably connect to the implant, and developed a prototype.
Optical information is picked up by the eyes and sent with neuroelectric signals to the visual cortex in the brain. Interpreting this input is what people perceive as seeing. It is known that even blind people are able to perceive some visual cues when their cortex is stimulated by electrical signals.
By establishing a connection between an external image source, such as a camera, and electrodes implanted in the visual cortex, a blind individual can experience a crude form of vision with these visual stimuli.
The NESTOR project, of which Van Nunens’s research is part, aims to create such a visual prosthesis. The brain implant the team is currently developing includes systems for wireless data transfer, controlling the electrodes and wireless energy transfer, among other things.