A person using a retinal implant to see will not experience vision in the same way a person with healthy vision does. Vision will be quite basic to start with and people will need training to adapt to the implant. With time, training and patience, people will be able to use this visual information to be more independent and mobile. 

Phosphene vision

The retinal implant or bionic eye works by stimulating the perception of light in a patient. A phosphene is a perceived spot of light in the visual field. What our technology aims to do is stimulate many of these phosphenes across the visual field in a way that enables the patient to put together a picture of what they are looking at. The more electrodes an implant contains, the more phosphenes are capable of being generated and the more detail a patient may be able to see. 

The Bionic Eye apps

We have developed an app to simulate the sort of vision a person with a bionic eye might experience. Although it is difficult to predict exactly what people with retinal implants will experience, the app will help you imagine what vision with phosphenes might be like. You can vary phosphene number and size to experience different effects, and also record images of what you are 'seeing' with your bionic vision.
 
The bionic eye app is now available for Android and iOS.