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Holon Physics Seminar
Holon Institute of Technology, Faculty of Sciences
"Cortical Adaptation and Visual Enhancement via Depth of Focus Extension and Tactile Stimulation of the Cornea"
Prof. Zeev Zalevsky, Bar Ilan University
January 08, 2015 | 13:00 | Seminar Room 424/8
Abstract:
My talk will be divided into two parts. In the first I will discuss novel interference based extended depth of-focus concept that we have developed which is matched to cortical adaptation. In the second I will show how special contact lens can be used to transmit visual information via spatial tactile stimulation of the human cornea.
Passive ophthalmic optic devices correct refractive defects of the eye but are not designed to employ neural adaptation processes. Our interference based extended depth of focus technology is implemented on conventional refractive devices, such as spectacles and contact lenses, and its testing is described.
This technology is capable of simultaneously correcting all refractive errors, such as myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia, regular/irregular astigmatism, as well as their combinations. This is achieved by exploiting the capacity of the visual system for adaptation to contrast as well as its capability of creating a coherent continuous visual field out of discrete lines of sight.
In the second part of my talk I propose to mount a camera and after proper image encoding to transmit the visual information to special contact lens that performs tactile stimulation of the cornea and therefore allows "seeing” with the eyes but not via the retinal photo receptors that are connected to the visual cortex but rather through the tactile sensors of the cornea. In a way our technological concept is similar to "Braille” reading that is done not via the finger tips but rather via the tactile sensation of the cornea. This technology can potentially be a non-invasive sensory substitution allowing blind people to perceive images.
The outcome of my study which involves preliminary human trials will for the first time show that the tactile sense of the cornea has spatial discrimination capability and thus can be used to transmit spatial information. Corneal tactile stimulation can thus be potentially considered for use as vision substitute for blind people by teaching them to associate the tactile feeling of the stimulation to real spatial shapes and images.
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