An IIAS-ISF Conference

ORGANIZERS:

Amir Amedi, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Shelly Levy-Tzedek, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

 

With tens of millions of bling people worldwide (and hundreds of millions visually impaired), sight restoration remains a major scientific and practical goal. Early surgical vision restoration attempts have demonstrated a measure of success, but still have a long way to go in terms of the level of visual restoration afforded by them. It is unclear whether this is the result of the lack of visual input during a critical period in early development, reorganization of the blind brain or a combination of these factors (which may also complicate future use of visual prostheses).

As neuro-prostheses are still not widely available, sensory substitution devices (SSDs) are a natural direction to follow in parallel. These non-invasive devices transform visual information into auditory or tactile input, and enable the blind to "see" using their other, intact, senses. It may also be that a successful integration of these approaches will be most helpful for sight restoration, as users can extract complementary information from both sources in parallel.

When attempting to devise the most appropriate and helpful form of intervention, it is critical that we understand the development process and plasticity of the brain, with particular emphasis on the sensory cortices. This conference will discuss advances in brain plasticity and vision rehabilitation using different approaches, from surgical intervention (e.g. the retinal prosthesis) to behavioural training (e.g. using sensory substitution).