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Procedure

Smart Bionic Eye for Blindness

N/A

Waitlist Available

Led By Michael Beyeler, PhD

Research Sponsored by University of California, Santa Barbara

Eligibility Criteria Checklist

Specific guidelines that determine who can or cannot participate in a clinical trial

Must have

Subject is capable of understanding patient information materials and giving written informed consent

Subject is able to walk unassisted

Must not have

Sighted controls: Subject has a history of motion sickness or flicker vertigo

Timeline

Screening 3 weeks

Treatment Varies

Follow Up through study completion, an average of 1 year

Awards & highlights

No Placebo-Only Group

Summary

This trial is to create a Smart Bionic Eye to help those with visual impairments navigate the world and improve their quality of life. It would use AI-powered scene understanding to recognize faces, read, and help with outdoor navigation.

Who is the study for?

This trial is for adults over 18 who have had a visual prosthesis implanted, are healed from the surgery, and can follow directions for tests. They must be able to see at least 20/40 with correction, walk without help, speak English, and commit to several days of testing.

What is being tested?

The study is testing a 'Smart Bionic Eye', an AI-powered device designed to enhance vision for specific tasks like face recognition and navigation. It aims to improve life quality by providing practical artificial vision.

What are the potential side effects?

While not explicitly stated in the provided information, potential side effects may include discomfort during long testing sessions or issues related to adapting to enhanced visual inputs from the AI-powered device.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

You may be eligible if you check “Yes” for the criteria below

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I understand the study information and can give my consent in writing.

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I can walk without help.

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I am 18 years old or older.

Exclusion Criteria

You may be eligible for the trial if you check “No” for criteria below:

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I have experienced motion sickness or flicker vertigo.

Timeline

Screening ~ 3 weeks3 visits

Treatment ~ Varies

Follow Up ~ through study completion, an average of 1 year

Screening ~ 3 weeks

Treatment ~ Varies

Follow Up ~through study completion, an average of 1 year

This trial's timeline: 3 weeks for screening, Varies for treatment, and through study completion, an average of 1 year for reporting.

Treatment Details

Study Objectives

Study objectives can provide a clearer picture of what you can expect from a treatment.

Primary study objectives

Pattern discrimination accuracy

Phosphene shape

Scene understanding performance

Awards & Highlights

No Placebo-Only Group

All patients enrolled in this study will receive some form of active treatment.

Trial Design

1Treatment groups

Experimental Treatment

Group I: Perception resulting from AI-powered artificial visionExperimental Treatment1 Intervention

The investigators will produce visual percepts in visual prosthesis patients either by directly stimulating electrodes (using FDA-approved pulse trains), or by asking them to view a computer or projector screen and using standard stimulation protocols (as is standardly used for their devices) to convert the computer or projector screen image into pulse trains on their electrodes. Informed by psychophysical data and computational models, the investigators will test the ability of different stimulus encoding methods to support simple perceptual and behavioral tasks (e.g., object recognition, navigation). These encoding methods may include computer vision and machine learning methods to highlight important objects in the scene or to highlight nearby obstacles and may be tailored to each individual patient.

0 / 4Eligibility criteria met