He asks test subjects to wear virtual reality goggles and walk through rooms in an augmented reality; while they do that, he assesses how they get on.Although that sounds like fun, Jaap de Ruyter van Steveninck is conducting serious research that serves a higher purpose.
Developing a brain implant to help blind people see. Together with his colleagues from the Donders institute, the 29-year-old neuroscientist from the Donders Institute in Nijmegen is working on the development of such a visual prosthesis in collaboration with dozens of scientists from various universities around the world.
Bionic vision
Helping blind people to see would be a miracle. Such a visual prosthesis would allow people to see the world through a camera that is directly connected to the brain via hundreds or even thousands of electrodes in the visual areas of the brain.
This artificial form of vision, also known as 'bionic vision', will be of a relatively limited quality, comparable to a very low resolution film or, more accurately, a 'dot image'. This visual prosthesis would allow blind people to recognise the contours of objects so that they can navigate their way around unfamiliar surroundings.
For example, they would then be able to 'see' the outline of a car, a bus or an obstacle on the street, explains the researcher as he produces an image comprising hundreds of black dots. “This dot image is a bit like a matrix sign on the motorway,” explains De Ruyter van Steveninck.
Each lamp is a dot, and if you switch them on in the right pattern, you can see a letter or a word. “Electrodes thinner than a hair send small pulses of electricity to the brain. A bit like a flash of light that produces a dot,” says De Ruyter van Steveninck, explaining how the brain implant works.
Dot pattern
Each dot requires an electrode to be positioned in the back of the head. In the future, the Dutch researchers hope to develop an implant that contains hundreds or even thousands of electrodes.
And yet, even with thousands of dots, condensing our complex environment into a clear, informative dot pattern is still a huge challenge. “What information do blind people need in order to be able to 'see'? How can we maximise the use of the small dot screen to display as much relevant information as possible?”
That is a key question for the development of the prosthesis. The Nijmegen researcher is exploring the potential of artificial intelligence in that brain implant; smart solutions that mimic the user's own intelligence in order to filter information.
Test subjects
For his research, De Ruyter van Steveninck works with test subjects who are not blind. Virtual reality allows him to let people experience a simulation of the dot image that blind people will see. This allows him to accurately test which dot patterns are most effective for different tasks.
For example, smart contour detection may enable users to navigate the streets more safely and independently. Or users might be able to recognise emotions in a person's face by looking at the dots on their mouth, eyes and eyebrows.
“It is very rewarding work,” says De Ruyter van Steveninck. “There are 40 million blind people worldwide. Wouldn't it be fantastic if we were able to use our technology to improve their autonomy?”
To read more about the research, visit the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience website.
This is the translation of a Dutch article that was previously published in de Gelderlander. Foto: Marina Vitale via Unsplash