Study of rehabilitation for prosthetic vision

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24700529
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: HIROYUKI Kanda 大阪大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (50570248)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 人工視覚 / リハビリテーション / 画像処理方法 / 網膜色素変性 / 医用工学 / ロービジョン / 人工臓器 / 人工網膜

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Retinal prosthetics can be used to restore vision in visually impaired people affected by retinitis pigmentosa. However, this prosthetic vision differs from normal vision. Therefore, a rehabilitation system may be necessary for the patient to adapt to the prosthesis, especially for improving eye-hand coordination. In this study, we developed a rehabilitation system using audio feedback and a touch panel display. We demonstrated the efficacy of this system. Furthermore, we evaluated an image processing method for the retinal prosthesis and showed that image processing using a saliency map was effective for improving eye-hand coordination.

Free Research Field

人工視覚