Testing stimulus protocols in retinal-prosthesis patients

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2017 Jul:2017:1170-1173. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2017.8037038.

Abstract

Retinal prostheses have demonstrated the capability to give blind patients the ability to detect motion and locate large objects. High-resolution retinal prostheses require precise activation of retinal cells to elicit a small visual phosphine that can serve as a building block to make patterns. Each electrode should activate only nearby cells, however patients receiving single electrode stimulation often report a streak-shaped phosphene rather than a focal spot. It is important to investigate stimulus paradigms that will provide better control over the spatial patterns of activation. During this study a 55 year old patient implanted with the Argus II system on August 2015 was tested with single electrode stimulation and pattern stimulation experiments. Tasks were performed using Argus II normal parameters.

MeSH terms

  • Blindness
  • Electric Stimulation
  • Electrodes
  • Electrodes, Implanted
  • Humans
  • Phosphenes
  • Prosthesis Implantation
  • Retina
  • Visual Prosthesis*