Re: [AI] FW: [The vOICe] Man with restored sight provides new insight into how vision develops

2015-04-16 Thread Pranav Lal
Hi,

Yes, I use the vOICe quite regularly. I cannot comment on the version of IOS.
Please select the option titled "new method" and then start experimenting.
Please experiment in a safe environment such as your home.

I am happy to answer more questions.
Pranav
-Original Message-
From: AccessIndia [mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of
Ekinath Khedekar
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2015 11:07 AM
To: AccessIndia: a list for discussing accessibility and issues concerning the
disabled.
Subject: Re: [AI] FW: [The vOICe] Man with restored sight provides new insight
into how vision develops

Hi Pranav,

About VoICE.

Have you used it?

I have i4 with latest ios and an android phone with 4.2.2 os. Would I be able to
use the app for experimenting navigation?

Thanks







On 4/16/15, Pranav Lal  wrote:
> Some of you may find the below paper of interest.
>
> -Original Message-
> From: seeingwithsound-bou...@freelists.org
> [mailto:seeingwithsound-bou...@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Peter 
> Meijer
> Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2015 12:27 AM
> To: seeingwithso...@freelists.org
> Subject: [The vOICe] Man with restored sight provides new insight into 
> how vision develops
>
> Hi All,
>
> For your information. Appended is today's news release from the 
> University of Washington, about Mike May.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Peter Meijer
>
>
> Seeing with Sound - The vOICe
> http://www.seeingwithsound.com/winvoice.htm
>
>
> Man with restored sight provides new insight into how vision develops.
>
> By Deborah Bach, News and Information.
>
> California man Mike May made international headlines in 2000 when his 
> sight was restored by a pioneering stem cell procedure after 40 years 
> of blindness.
>
> But a study published three years after the operation found that the 
> then-49-year-old could see colors, motion and some simple 
> two-dimensional shapes, but was incapable of more complex visual processing.
>
> Hoping May might eventually regain those visual skills, University of 
> Washington researchers and colleagues retested him a decade later. But 
> in a paper now available online in Psychological Science, they report 
> that May -- referred to in the study as M.M. -- continues to perform 
> significantly worse than sighted control group participants.
>
> The conclusion: May's vision remains very limited 15 years after the 
> surgeries.
> Though disappointing, the results provide valuable information that 
> can help researchers better understand how vision develops and which 
> visual processing tasks are most vulnerable to sight deprivation.
>
> "With sight-restoration procedures becoming more developed, we're 
> going to see more and more cases where people are blind for long 
> periods of time and then get their sight back," said senior author 
> Ione Fine, a UW associate professor of psychology.
>
> "But we know very little about what happens in their brains during 
> that period.
> That is going to be one of the fundamental questions going forward -- 
> what happens when the lights are turned off, and what happens when you 
> turn them back on?"
>
> May went blind at age 3 when a jar of chemicals exploded in his face. 
> He went on to work for the CIA and became a successful entrepreneur, 
> founding the Sendero Group, a company that makes GPS and talking-map 
> products for blind people.
> May
> is also a motivational speaker and holds the world downhill skiing 
> speed record,
> 65 mph, for a completely blind person.
>
> But fully restored sight has eluded May, and his unusual case has 
> puzzled researchers. There were few previous cases of restored vision 
> before his -- the last well-documented one was in 1963 -- and 
> scientists knew little about whether people whose sight is restored as 
> adults can regain functional vision, and if so, how long that might 
> take.
>
> In the recent tests, May was shown images of household objects and 
> faces, and also video clips while his brain responses were measured 
> with fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging). As with the tests a 
> decade earlier, May did not have normal brain responses to 
> three-dimensional objects or faces, consistent with his inability to 
> make sense of these stimuli.
>
> Researchers believe that's because May's brain, like those of other 
> people who went blind at an early age, has adjusted to respond to 
> other stimuli, such as sound or touch.
>
> "We suspect that Mike lost vision at an age when these brain regions 
> were able to take on new roles," said joint first author Jason 
> Webster. "It remains to be seen what these areas are doing now."
>
&

Re: [AI] FW: [The vOICe] Man with restored sight provides new insight into how vision develops

2015-04-15 Thread Ekinath Khedekar
Hi Pranav,

About VoICE.

Have you used it?

I have i4 with latest ios and an android phone with 4.2.2 os. Would I
be able to use the app for experimenting navigation?

Thanks







On 4/16/15, Pranav Lal  wrote:
> Some of you may find the below paper of interest.
>
> -Original Message-
> From: seeingwithsound-bou...@freelists.org
> [mailto:seeingwithsound-bou...@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Peter Meijer
> Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2015 12:27 AM
> To: seeingwithso...@freelists.org
> Subject: [The vOICe] Man with restored sight provides new insight into how
> vision develops
>
> Hi All,
>
> For your information. Appended is today's news release from the University
> of Washington, about Mike May.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Peter Meijer
>
>
> Seeing with Sound - The vOICe
> http://www.seeingwithsound.com/winvoice.htm
>
>
> Man with restored sight provides new insight into how vision develops.
>
> By Deborah Bach, News and Information.
>
> California man Mike May made international headlines in 2000 when his sight
> was
> restored by a pioneering stem cell procedure after 40 years of blindness.
>
> But a study published three years after the operation found that the
> then-49-year-old could see colors, motion and some simple two-dimensional
> shapes, but was incapable of more complex visual processing.
>
> Hoping May might eventually regain those visual skills, University of
> Washington
> researchers and colleagues retested him a decade later. But in a paper now
> available online in Psychological Science, they report that May -- referred
> to in
> the study as M.M. -- continues to perform significantly worse than sighted
> control group participants.
>
> The conclusion: May's vision remains very limited 15 years after the
> surgeries.
> Though disappointing, the results provide valuable information that can help
> researchers better understand how vision develops and which visual
> processing
> tasks are most vulnerable to sight deprivation.
>
> "With sight-restoration procedures becoming more developed, we're going to
> see
> more and more cases where people are blind for long periods of time and then
> get
> their sight back," said senior author Ione Fine, a UW associate professor of
> psychology.
>
> "But we know very little about what happens in their brains during that
> period.
> That is going to be one of the fundamental questions going forward -- what
> happens when the lights are turned off, and what happens when you turn them
> back
> on?"
>
> May went blind at age 3 when a jar of chemicals exploded in his face. He
> went on
> to work for the CIA and became a successful entrepreneur, founding the
> Sendero
> Group, a company that makes GPS and talking-map products for blind people.
> May
> is also a motivational speaker and holds the world downhill skiing speed
> record,
> 65 mph, for a completely blind person.
>
> But fully restored sight has eluded May, and his unusual case has puzzled
> researchers. There were few previous cases of restored vision before his --
> the
> last well-documented one was in 1963 -- and scientists knew little about
> whether
> people whose sight is restored as adults can regain functional vision, and
> if
> so, how long that might take.
>
> In the recent tests, May was shown images of household objects and faces,
> and
> also video clips while his brain responses were measured with fMRI
> (functional
> magnetic resonance imaging). As with the tests a decade earlier, May did not
> have normal brain responses to three-dimensional objects or faces,
> consistent
> with his inability to make sense of these stimuli.
>
> Researchers believe that's because May's brain, like those of other people
> who
> went blind at an early age, has adjusted to respond to other stimuli, such
> as
> sound or touch.
>
> "We suspect that Mike lost vision at an age when these brain regions were
> able
> to take on new roles," said joint first author Jason Webster. "It remains to
> be
> seen what these areas are doing now."
>
> May's case is particularly interesting, Fine said, because his blindness
> started
> when the visual system is already developed, but the ability to perceive
> objects
> and faces is still evolving.
>
> "He lost his vision at an age when vision is pretty good, but he was still
> young
> enough for it to deteriorate," she said.
>
> The findings, the researchers say, indicate that visual function for tasks
> such
> as object recognition and face processing continues to develop through
> childhood
> and early adolescence and remains sensitive to loss of sight for several
> years
> afterward.
>
> The good news, said joint first author and UW graduate student Elizabeth
> Huber,
> is that the findings imply that adults' vision is relatively fixed, meaning
> that
> as visual losses increase in an aging population, the chances of restoring
> useful sight to older people are good.
>
> "This study is encouraging because it suggests that if someone loses sight
> later
> in life, it

[AI] FW: [The vOICe] Man with restored sight provides new insight into how vision develops

2015-04-15 Thread Pranav Lal
Some of you may find the below paper of interest.

-Original Message-
From: seeingwithsound-bou...@freelists.org 
[mailto:seeingwithsound-bou...@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Peter Meijer
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2015 12:27 AM
To: seeingwithso...@freelists.org
Subject: [The vOICe] Man with restored sight provides new insight into how 
vision develops

Hi All,

For your information. Appended is today's news release from the University
of Washington, about Mike May.

Best wishes,

Peter Meijer


Seeing with Sound - The vOICe
http://www.seeingwithsound.com/winvoice.htm


Man with restored sight provides new insight into how vision develops.

By Deborah Bach, News and Information.

California man Mike May made international headlines in 2000 when his sight was
restored by a pioneering stem cell procedure after 40 years of blindness.

But a study published three years after the operation found that the
then-49-year-old could see colors, motion and some simple two-dimensional
shapes, but was incapable of more complex visual processing.

Hoping May might eventually regain those visual skills, University of Washington
researchers and colleagues retested him a decade later. But in a paper now
available online in Psychological Science, they report that May — referred to in
the study as M.M. — continues to perform significantly worse than sighted
control group participants.

The conclusion: May’s vision remains very limited 15 years after the surgeries.
Though disappointing, the results provide valuable information that can help
researchers better understand how vision develops and which visual processing
tasks are most vulnerable to sight deprivation.

“With sight-restoration procedures becoming more developed, we’re going to see
more and more cases where people are blind for long periods of time and then get
their sight back,” said senior author Ione Fine, a UW associate professor of
psychology.

“But we know very little about what happens in their brains during that period.
That is going to be one of the fundamental questions going forward — what
happens when the lights are turned off, and what happens when you turn them back
on?”

May went blind at age 3 when a jar of chemicals exploded in his face. He went on
to work for the CIA and became a successful entrepreneur, founding the Sendero
Group, a company that makes GPS and talking-map products for blind people. May
is also a motivational speaker and holds the world downhill skiing speed record,
65 mph, for a completely blind person.

But fully restored sight has eluded May, and his unusual case has puzzled
researchers. There were few previous cases of restored vision before his — the
last well-documented one was in 1963 — and scientists knew little about whether
people whose sight is restored as adults can regain functional vision, and if
so, how long that might take.

In the recent tests, May was shown images of household objects and faces, and
also video clips while his brain responses were measured with fMRI (functional
magnetic resonance imaging). As with the tests a decade earlier, May did not
have normal brain responses to three-dimensional objects or faces, consistent
with his inability to make sense of these stimuli.

Researchers believe that’s because May’s brain, like those of other people who
went blind at an early age, has adjusted to respond to other stimuli, such as
sound or touch.

“We suspect that Mike lost vision at an age when these brain regions were able
to take on new roles,” said joint first author Jason Webster. “It remains to be
seen what these areas are doing now.”

May’s case is particularly interesting, Fine said, because his blindness started
when the visual system is already developed, but the ability to perceive objects
and faces is still evolving.

“He lost his vision at an age when vision is pretty good, but he was still young
enough for it to deteriorate,” she said.

The findings, the researchers say, indicate that visual function for tasks such
as object recognition and face processing continues to develop through childhood
and early adolescence and remains sensitive to loss of sight for several years
afterward.

The good news, said joint first author and UW graduate student Elizabeth Huber,
is that the findings imply that adults’ vision is relatively fixed, meaning that
as visual losses increase in an aging population, the chances of restoring
useful sight to older people are good.

“This study is encouraging because it suggests that if someone loses sight later
in life, it may still be possible to restore relatively normal vision, even
after many years of blindness,” she said.

May told the researchers he uses his other senses to compensate for his poor 
vision.

“I have learned what works with vision and what doesn’t, so I really don’t
challenge my vision much anymore,” he said in the paper. “Where motion or colors
might be clues, I use my vision. Where details might be required, like reading
print or recognizing who so