Firstpost
  • Home
  • Video Shows
    Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
  • World
    US News
  • Explainers
  • News
    India Opinion Cricket Tech Entertainment Sports Health Photostories
  • Asia Cup 2025
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
Trending:
  • Nepal protests
  • Nepal Protests Live
  • Vice-presidential elections
  • iPhone 17
  • IND vs PAK cricket
  • Israel-Hamas war
fp-logo
'Sensory Substitution Devices' to help the blind see via other senses: Study
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
  • Home
  • Tech
  • News & Analysis
  • 'Sensory Substitution Devices' to help the blind see via other senses: Study

'Sensory Substitution Devices' to help the blind see via other senses: Study

FP Archives • January 25, 2015, 09:59:53 IST
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter

Using first-of-the-kind devices, Israeli scientists have mapped brains of the blind to solve how our brains can adapt to the rapid cultural and technological changes of the 21st century.

Advertisement
Subscribe Join Us
Add as a preferred source on Google
Prefer
Firstpost
On
Google
'Sensory Substitution Devices' to help the blind see via other senses: Study

Using first-of-the-kind devices, Israeli scientists have mapped brains of the blind to solve how our brains can adapt to the rapid cultural and technological changes of the 21st century. The tools, known as Sensory Substitution Devices (SSDs), take information from one sense and present it in another. For example, they enable blind people to “see” by using other senses such as touching or hearing. By using a smartphone or webcam to translate a visual image into a distinct soundscape, SSDs enable blind users to create a mental image of objects, such as their physical dimensions and colour. “These devices can help the blind in their everyday life,” explained professor Amir Amedi from Hebrew University’s Amedi Lab for Brain and Multisensory Research. With intense training, blind users can even “read” letters by identifying their distinct soundscape. “These devices also open unique research opportunities by letting us see what happens in brain regions normally associated with one sense, when the relevant information comes from another,” he added. For the study, the researchers used functional MRI imaging (fMRI) to study the brains of blind subjects in real-time while they used an SSD to identify objects by their sound. They found that when it comes to recognising letters, body postures and more, specialised brain areas are activated by the task at hand, rather than by the sense (vision or hearing) being used. “This means that the main criteria for a reading area to develop is not the letters’ visual symbols but rather the area’s connectivity to the brain’s language-processing centres,” Amedi noted. Similarly a number area will develop in a region which already has connections to quantity-processing regions, he added. The findings suggest that unexpected brain connectivity can lead to fast brain specialisation, allowing humans to adapt to the rapid technological and cultural innovation of our generation. “If we take this one step further, this connectivity-based mechanism might explain how brain areas could have developed so quickly on an evolutionary timescale,” the authors concluded. The research appeared in the journal Nature Communications. IANS

Tags
smartphones Technology science tablets vision eyes Senses Personal Technology Nature Communications new devices Sensory Substitution Devices
End of Article
Written by FP Archives

see more

Latest News
Find us on YouTube
Subscribe
End of Article

Top Stories

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Top Shows

Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
Latest News About Firstpost
Most Searched Categories
  • Web Stories
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • IPL 2025
NETWORK18 SITES
  • News18
  • Money Control
  • CNBC TV18
  • Forbes India
  • Advertise with us
  • Sitemap
Firstpost Logo

is on YouTube

Subscribe Now

Copyright @ 2024. Firstpost - All Rights Reserved

About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms Of Use
Home Video Shorts Live TV