An Alternative Way of Sight

There have been past innovations regarding technology that would permit people with visual disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa a degree of visual perception that involved inserting prostheses into the tongue and then relay sensory information to the occipital lobe of the brain (which processes, integrates, and conveys information regarding visual sensation). Newer innovations involving retinal implants, however, have been becoming more preferable. By using a digital camera built into a pair of cameras to relay information to a video-processing microchip built into these glasses, the information is transmitted via radio signals into a transmitter above the ear or under the eye, which then relay to an electrode array. The electrode array then acts as photoreceptors within the eye by sending electric signals through nerves behind the eye which send action potentials (electric signals) to the occipital lobe to get processed as visual information (How Does a “Bionic Eye” Allow Blind People to See?).