NCT07450677

Sensory Substitution and Brain Plasticity Following Vision Loss

Neurobehavioral Effects of Visual Assistive Technologies

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 200 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Stanford University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 8 Years – 85 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The goal of this clinical investigation is to learn how the brain responds when visual information is converted into patterns of sound or touch in blind and sighted participants. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Does converting visual information into sound or touch patterns change visual performance in the blind or blindfolded? * How does the brain adapt to different kinds of sensory information? Researchers will use brain imaging and simple performance tasks to see how people process and learn from this type of converted sensory input. The investigators will compare how individuals with and without long-term vision loss respond to these signals. Participants will: * Learn to use technologies to assist in visual information conversion into sound or touch patterns every day for 5 weeks; * Visit the brain imaging center 3 times for brain scans and behavioral tests.

Conditions

• Blindness

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Electrotactile display (BrainPort)	The BrainPort is a non-surgical assistive device that translates digital information from a video camera to gentle electrotactile stimulation patterns on the surface of the tongue.
DEVICE	Vision-to-sound converter (AI Sight)	The AI Sight is an auditory technology software that can convert visual information into sound patterns, which can be delivered through regular headphones.
DEVICE	Sham	Participants will wear the assistive technology system, but there will be no active sensory signals applied.

Timeline

• Start date: 2026-06-01
• Primary completion: 2030-08-31
• Completion: 2030-08-31
• First posted: 2026-03-05
• Last updated: 2026-03-05

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: United States

Regulatory

• FDA-regulated device study