Giving sight to the blind was once just the vision of science fiction but a pioneering new visor is now helping five patients battling blindness to see again. The Star Trek-style headgear - evocative of the iconic prosthetic worn by Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge - tackles a common cause of visual impairment. Much like the gadget adorning the cult character, the glasses translate visual information from the outside world into images that the wearer can perceive. Volunteers with age-related macular degeneration who took part in a trial of tech firm Pixium Vision's'bionic' system were able to read letters using the device. The gadget is made up of a pair of goggles fitted with a video camera, attached to a small computer processor.