A bold new treatment of visual impairment hopes to directly stimulate neurons via electrical implants. A camera integrated in a pair of spectacles wirelessly transmits its images to a cortical implant. This consists of 11 small tiles which stimulate the visual cortex with a network of tiny electrodes. Each one gives rise to a signal which is perceived by the user as a point of light. . When all points are stimulated, they make up an image of 500 points, which allows a user with severe visual impairments to "see" faces and other images - although at a rudimentary level.

This treatment may also be used on those with physical damage to the eye, as well as those with age-related degeneration or glaucoma, whether the patient is partially or totally blind. Clinical trials with the stimulator placed directly on the surface of the visual cortex are to commence shortly on volunteers. It is apparent that that this device, conceived at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, by stimulating the visual cortex, does not pass at all through the eyes, and this is what makes it so unique.