Chebat Daniel-Robert, Rainville Constant, Kupers Ron, Ptito Maurice
Chaire de Recherche Harland Sanders, Ecole d'Optométrie, Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
Neuroreport. 2007 Dec 3;18(18):1901-4. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0b013e3282f2a63.
This study compares the 'tactile-visual' acuity of the tongue for 15 early blind participants with that of 24 age-matched and sex-matched sighted controls. Snellen's tumbling E test was used to assess 'visual' acuity using the tongue display unit. The tongue display unit is a sensory substitution device that converts a visual stimulus grabbed by a camera into electro-tactile pulses delivered to the tongue via a grid made out of electrodes. No overall significant difference was found in thresholds between early blind (1/206) and sighted control (1/237) participants. We found, however, a larger proportion of early blind in the two highest visual acuity categories (1/150 and 1/90). These results extend earlier findings that it is possible to measure visual acuity in the blind individuals using the tongue. Moreover, our data demonstrate that a subgroup of early blind participants is more efficient than controls in conveying visual information through the tongue.
本研究比较了15名早期失明参与者与24名年龄和性别匹配的视力正常对照者的舌头“触觉-视觉”敏锐度。使用斯内伦翻转E视力表，通过舌显器来评估“视觉”敏锐度。舌显器是一种感官替代设备，它将相机捕捉到的视觉刺激转换为通过电极网格传递到舌头的电触觉脉冲。早期失明参与者（1/206）和视力正常对照者（1/237）之间在阈值上未发现总体显著差异。然而，我们发现，在两个最高视力类别（1/150和1/90）中，早期失明者的比例更高。这些结果扩展了早期的研究发现，即可以使用舌头测量盲人的视力。此外，我们的数据表明，一部分早期失明参与者在通过舌头传递视觉信息方面比对照者更有效。
