US 12,133,818 B2
Providing sensory stimulations via photoacoustic, piezo-based, thermal, and/or electrical effects
Emad M. Boctor, Baltimore, MD (US); Peter Gehlbach, Monkton, MD (US); James Spicer, Baltimore, MD (US); Jeeun Kang, Baltimore, MD (US); and Maged Harraz, Ellicott City, MD (US)
Assigned to The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (US)
Appl. No. 16/612,257
Filed by The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (US)
PCT Filed May 10, 2018, PCT No. PCT/US2018/032113
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 8, 2019,
PCT Pub. No. WO2018/209118, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 15, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/504,351, filed on May 10, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2023/0100414 A1, Mar. 30, 2023
Int. Cl. A61F 9/08 (2006.01); A61N 7/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61F 9/08 (2013.01) [A61N 7/00 (2013.01); A61N 2007/0026 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, comprising:
obtaining, by a device, information relating to an environment of a user;
processing, by the device, the information to derive one or more signals representative of the information;
generating, by the device, a laser beam based on the one or more signals; and
outputting, by the device, the laser beam toward a portion of an absorptive element after generating the laser beam,
the laser beam being focused on the portion of the absorptive element,
the absorptive element being disposed over a portion of a retina of the user, and positioned proximate to a region-of-interest, of the user, that includes neuronal cells,
the laser beam causing the absorptive element to produce, via photoacoustic effect, acoustic energy that causes depolarization of the neuronal cells in a controlled spatiotemporal resolution in the region-of-interest, and
the depolarization of the neuronal cells enabling the user to visually and/or auditorily perceive the environment, be alleviated from pain, and/or be manipulated to perform a movement of a body part of the user.