Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jan-Feb;69(1):6901290010p1-8.
doi: 10.5014/ajot.2015.011809.

Acquisition of Visual Perception in Blind Adults Using the BrainPort Artificial Vision Device

Amy C Nau  1 , Christine Pintar  2 , Aimee Arnoldussen  3 , Christopher Fisher  4
Affiliations

Acquisition of Visual Perception in Blind Adults Using the BrainPort Artificial Vision Device

Amy C Nau et al. Am J Occup Ther. 2015 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Objective: We sought to determine whether intensive low vision rehabilitation would confer any functional improvement in a sample of blind adults using the BrainPort artificial vision device.

Method: Eighteen adults ages 28-69 yr (n=10 men and n=8 women) who had light perception only or worse vision bilaterally spent up to 6 hr per day for 1 wk undergoing structured rehabilitation interventions. The functional outcomes of object identification and word recognition were tested at baseline and after rehabilitation training.

Results: At baseline, participants were unable to complete the two functional assessments. After participation in the 1-wk training protocol, participants were able to use the BrainPort device to complete the two tasks with moderate success.

Conclusion: Without training, participants were not able to perform above chance level using the BrainPort device. As artificial vision technologies become available, occupational therapy practitioners can play a key role in clients' success or failure in using these devices.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Illustration of BrainPort vision device hardware and functions.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Pairing haptic information from the hands with information from the device and early ambulation spatial relations training task. Use of a simplified background decreases visual clutter and increases object contrast, both important for early training.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Box plots illustrating percentages correct in trials. (A) Object identification trials. (B) Word identification trials. Note. Black lines indicate median scores.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Alteheld N., Roessler G., & Walter P. (2007). Towards the bionic eye—The retina implant: Surgical, opthalmological and histopathological perspectives. Acta Neurochirurgica. Supplementum, 97, 487–493 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-33081-4_56 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bach M. (1996). The Freiburg Visual Acuity test—Automatic measurement of visual acuity. Optometry and Vision Science, 73, 49–53 http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00006324-199601000-00008 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Benav H., Bartz-Schmidt K. U., Besch D., Bruckmann A., Gekeler F., & Greppmaier U. … Zrenner E. (2010). Restoration of useful vision up to letter recognition capabilities using subretinal microphotodiodes. In Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE, 5919–5922 http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/IEMBS.2010.5627549 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cattaneo Z., Vecchi T., Monegato M., Pece A., & Cornoldi C. (2007). Effects of late visual impairment on mental representations activated by visual and tactile stimuli. Brain Research, 1148, 170–176 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2007.02.033 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chader G. J., Weiland J., & Humayun M. S. (2009). Artificial vision: Needs, functioning, and testing of a retinal electronic prosthesis. Progress in Brain Research, 175, 317–332 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6123(09)17522-2 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

-