Retinal degeneration, a leading cause of irreversible low vision and blindness globally, can be partially addressed by retina prostheses which stimulate remaining neurons in the retina. However, existing electrode-based treatments are invasive, posing substantial risks to patients and healthcare providers. Here, we introduce a completely noninvasive ultrasonic retina prosthesis, featuring a customized ultrasound two-dimensional array which allows for simultaneous imaging and stimulation. With synchronous three-dimensional imaging guidance and auto-alignment technology, ultrasonic retina prosthesis can generate programmed ultrasound waves to dynamically and precisely form arbitrary wave patterns on the retina. Neuron responses in the brain’s visual center mirrored these patterns, evidencing successful artificial vision creation, which was further corroborated in behavior experiments. Quantitative analysis of the spatial-temporal resolution and field of view demonstrated advanced performance of ultrasonic retina prosthesis and elucidated the biophysical mechanism of retinal stimulation. As a noninvasive blindness prosthesis, ultrasonic retina prosthesis could lead to a more effective, widely acceptable treatment for blind patients. Its real-time imaging-guided stimulation strategy with a single ultrasound array, could also benefit ultrasound neurostimulation in other diseases.

视网膜变性是全球不可逆转的低视力和失明的主要原因，可以通过刺激视网膜中剩余神经元的视网膜假体来部分解决。然而，现有的基于电极的治疗是侵入性的，给患者和医疗保健提供者带来巨大风险。在这里，我们介绍一种完全无创的超声波视网膜假体，具有定制的超声波二维阵列，可以同时进行成像和刺激。借助同步三维成像引导和自动对准技术，超声波视网膜假体可以产生编程超声波，在视网膜上动态、精确地形成任意波型。大脑视觉中心的神经元反应反映了这些模式，证明了人工视觉的成功创造，这在行为实验中得到了进一步证实。时空分辨率和视场的定量分析证明了超声视网膜假体的先进性能，并阐明了视网膜刺激的生物物理机制。作为一种非侵入性失明假体，超声视网膜假体可以为失明患者带来更有效、更广泛接受的治疗方法。其采用单个超声阵列的实时成像引导刺激策略也可能有利于其他疾病的超声神经刺激。