Real-life science closes in on Star Trek as scientists show they can to hack into blind people's visual cortex to let them 'see'

In Star Trek: The Next Generation, their congentially blind engineer, Jordy LaForge, is able to see thanks to a visor worn across his eyes.

Now, thanks to an Israeli team, real-life technology has taken one more step to catching up with science fiction.

They have shown that an amazing device can use sound to hack into the visual cortex of blind people to let them 'see'.

Dr Amir Amedi, left, models his Sensory Substitution Device, which looks remarkably like the visor work by Star Trek character Jordy La Forge, right



The Sensory Substitution Device, invented over 20 years ago by Dutch researcher Dr Peter Meijer, uses an algorithm to translate the position and appearance of an object into distinct tones.

With only a brief period of training, users can learn to interpret the 'soundscape' to show them the shape, location and position of people or objects, and even read written words.

Now, a team led by Dr Amir Amedi from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem has shown that the sounds created actually activate the visual cortices of congenitally blind people, giving them the opportunity to see, after a fashion.

Writing in the current issue of the journal Cerebral Cortex, Dr Amedi and his team tell how previous research has indicated that the visual cortex organizes data into two parallel pathways.

The 'what' pathway, known technically as the ventral occipito-temporal pathway, deals with form, identity, and color.

The dorsal occipito-parietal pathway. or the 'where/how' pathway, focuses on object location and coordinates visual data with motor function.

Brain hacking: This graphic shows how the Sensory Substitution Device works to give blind people a sense of sight

Amazingly, MRI scans showed blind people using Dr Meijer's device activated these pathways the same as people with normal vision would, showing that this separation of tasks in the visual cortex doesn't actually need eyesight to form.

'The brain is not a sensory machine, although it often looks like one; it is a task machine' Dr Amir Amedi, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The discovery builds on previous work by the team which showed braille readers show activity in precisely the same part of the brain that lights up when sighted readers read.

In a statement, Dr Amedi argued that this means: 'The brain is not a sensory machine, although it often looks like one; it is a task machine.'