Image processing for visual prostheses: A clinical perspective

Recent advances in the field of visual prostheses or “bionic eyes” have shown that it is possible to use electrical stimulation to produce basic phosphenised vision to patients who are profoundly vision impaired or blind. In particular, retinal prostheses have been implanted in a number of clinical trials for a degenerative eye disease known as retinitis pigmentosa. To date, the visual improvements in these trials have been small and not easily quantified. The aim of this paper is to highlight the inherent complexities in the assessment of visual function in the profoundly vision impaired, and discuss the potential for improvement in outcomes using image processing technology.