# Deep Learning-Based Perceptual Stimulus Encoder for Bionic Vision

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.05604 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.05604/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 1 of its 11 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 10 Mar 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Deep Learning--Based Scene Simplification for Bionic Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.00297/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Hybrid Neural Autoencoders for Stimulus Encoding in Visual and Other Sensory Neuroprostheses](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.13623/) (2022)
- [A Deep Learning-based in silico Framework for Optimization on Retinal Prosthetic Stimulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.03570/) (2023)
- [Optimizing Retinal Prosthetic Stimuli with Conditional Invertible Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.04884/) (2024)
- [Evaluating Deep Human-in-the-Loop Optimization for Retinal Implants Using Sighted Participants](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.00177/) (2025)
- [Visual Fixation-Based Retinal Prosthetic Simulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.11688/) (2024)
- [Learning to See via Epiretinal Implant Stimulation in silico with Model-Based Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.03118/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Retinal implants have the potential to treat incurable blindness, yet the quality of the artificial vision they produce is still rudimentary. An outstanding challenge is identifying electrode activation patterns that lead to intelligible visual percepts (phosphenes). Here we propose a PSE based on CNN that is trained in an end-to-end fashion to predict the electrode activation patterns required to produce a desired visual percept. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the encoder on MNIST using a psychophysically validated phosphene model tailored to individual retinal implant users. The present work constitutes an essential first step towards improving the quality of the artificial vision provided by retinal implants.