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A Blind Man is Given a Second Chance at Sight

Jason Esther Hazen thought he’d never again be able to see light or movement after a car accident left him blind. But with the flick of a switch, his world suddenly grew brighter. I still can’t put it into words. I mean, from going… from being able to see absolutely nothing, it’s pitch black, to all of a sudden seeing little flickers of light move around. Well, it’s not normal sight. Esther Hazen has an easier time navigating the world around him. Being able to tell where a doorway is, being able to tell where the sidewalk begins or ends or where the crosswalk is are all extremely meaningful events that can help these people regain some form of independence. Here’s how it works. A small generator is implanted into the brain. Then a video camera on a pair of sunglasses sends signals to a processing unit, then back to the glasses that communicates wirelessly with the implant. This stimulates a pattern onto the visual cortex of the brain and allows users to detect movement and patterns of light. We basically have the video camera in the video processing unit, functioning or performing the functions of what the eye normally does. Esther Hazen is one of two people in the US testing this technology. There’s little white dots on a black background. It’s like looking up at the stars at night. The technology called Orion is manufactured by a company called Second Sight. It’s being tested at the UCLA Medical Center and the Baylor College of Medicine. As he learns what each flicker of light represents, Esther Hazen is helping this technology become more useful. Someone moving across the room, walking past me or walking away from me or it’s a light against the wall, it was just amazing to have some form of functional vision again. Esther Hazen can now sort his laundry and do other everyday activities he once couldn’t do. Crossing the road is much easier and much safer for me, because I can look down and just follow the white line on that’s painted on the road. The researchers believe this technology could one day aid people with a wide range of visual impairments from glaucoma and diabetes to those who lost their vision or were born blind.

在一场车祸使杰森·埃斯特·哈森失明后，他以为自己再也无法看到光或事物的移动了。但随着按下开关，他的世界突然变得明亮起来。我至今仍然无法组织好语言表达这件事，我的意思是……从完全看不到任何东西，漆黑一片，到突然能够看到有一点闪光在移动。这并不是正常人的视力，但是有了这种视力加持，埃斯特·哈森能更轻松的生活。能够辨别门口在哪里，能够辨别人行道的起点或终点，或者人行横道的位置，这些都是非常有意义的，可以帮助这些人重新变得独立起来。它的工作原理如下。将一个小生成器植入大脑，然后一副太阳镜上的摄像机会将信号发送到处理单元，之后在再返回到与植入物无线通信的眼镜上。这能够给大脑的视觉皮层一种图案刺激，并允许用户检测到运动以及光的图案。基本上，在视频处理单元中有摄像机，它们能够正常完成其功能或完成眼睛正常工作的功能。在美国共有两个人测试这项技术，埃斯特·哈森便是其中之一。黑色背景上有小白点，就像晚上仰望星空一样。这种技术被称为Orion，是由一家名为Second Sight的公司制造的。这种技术目前正在加州大学洛杉矶分校医学中心和贝勒医学院进行测试。随着他不断了解到每一个闪光代表什么，埃斯特·哈森正在帮助这项技术变得更加有用。我能感觉到有人在房间里走来走去，从我身边走过或离开我，我也能感知到靠墙的一盏灯发出的灯光，能够再次感受到视觉功能真是令人惊叹。埃斯特·哈森现在可以整理自己的衣物，还可以做他曾经无法做到的其它日常活动。过马路对我来说容易多了，也安全多了，因为我可以往下看，只要沿着道路上画的白线走就行了。研究人员相信，这项技术有朝一日可以帮助各种视觉障碍的人，包括由于青光眼或糖尿病导致的患者以及天生失明患者。