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Ever since the invention of the magnifying glass nearly 25 centuries ago, nosotros've been using technology to assistance us see amend. For most of u.s., the fix is fairly simple, such as a pair of glasses or contact lenses. Just for many with more than seriously impaired vision — estimated at around 285 one thousand thousand people worldwide — technology has been short on answers until fairly recently. Doctors and scientists are making up for lost time though, with a slew of emerging technologies to help everyone from the mildly-colorblind to the completely united nations-sighted. They're also part of a wide swath of new medical advances we'll exist covering all this week here at ExtremeTech in our new Medical Tech series.

Superman glasses for the vision-impaired

These space-age-style smart glasses from Vast can help the vision-impaired see what is around themNosotros're all familiar with the accessibility options available on our computers, including larger cursors, high-contrast fonts, and magnified screens. Only those do nothing to help the vision-impaired navigate the rest of their day. Instead, a number of different "smart glasses" have been invented that help brand the rest of the globe more accessible.

These glasses work by using the image from one or more cameras — often including a depth sensor — and processing it to pass-forth an enhanced version of the scene to a pair of displays in front of the eyes. Deciding on the best way to enhance the image — autofocus, zoom, object outlining, etc. — is an active area of research, as the best fashion for the wearer to control them. Right now they tend to require an external box that does the image processing and has knobs for decision-making settings. Emerging technologies including eye tracking will provide improved ways to control these devices. Better object recognition algorithms will besides help improve their utility. One twenty-four hour period it volition be easy to have these glasses know enough to highlight house keys, or a wallet, or other commonly-needed, only sometimes hard to locate, possessions.

One of the more than clever solutions comes out of Oxford, via Google Global Affect Challenge winner VA-ST. I had a chance to attempt out VA-ST's prototype Smart Specs final yr, and can see how they could exist very helpful for those who otherwise tin't brand out details of a scene. It'southward hard, though, to get a real feel for their effectiveness unless y'all are actually suffering from a item vision impairment. Some work is being done to help simulate these weather condition, and allow those with normal vision to evaluate solutions. Simply until then willing subject field participants with uncommon vision disorders are actually a deficient resource for scientists attempting to exercise trials of their devices.

The VA-ST system highlights edges and objects to make important parts of a scene more visibleNearly solutions available today suffer not only from technical issues like how they are controlled, but cut off eye contact and are socially awkward — which has also hampered their adoption. Less-obtrusive devices using wave guides, like the ones developed past Israeli startup Lumus, will be needed to overcome this result. Startup GiveVision is already demoing a version of its vision-profitable habiliment using Lumus wave guides to help brand information technology more than constructive and less obtrusive. Similar advanced augmented reality display technology is as well existence used in Microsoft'south HoloLens and Magic Spring'south much-rumored device. While it is by and large mainstream AR devices like those that are driving the engineering to marketplace, in that location is no doubt the medical device sector will exist quick to have advantage of it.

Other efforts to enhance awareness of the visual earth, including EyeMusic, return salient aspects of the scene — such as distance to the closest object — every bit audible tones. The OrCam system recognizes text and reads it to the wearer out loud, for example. These systems have the advantage that they don't require placing annihilation over the wearer's eyes, and then they don't interfere with eye contact.

Retinal implants provide sight for many of the blind

In many bullheaded people — particularly those suffering from Retinitis Pigmentosa and age-related Macular Degeneration — the retinal receptors may be missing, but the neurons that comport information from them to the brain are intact. In that case, it is sometimes possible to install a sensor — an bogus retina — that relays signals from a camera directly to the vision neurons. Since the pixels on the sensor (electrodes) don't line up exactly with where the rods and cones would normally exist, the restored vision isn't directly comparable with what is seen with a natural retina, but the brain is able to acquire to brand sense of the input and fractional vision is restored.

Palankar's team is also looking at using special glasses to provide wireless data to the retinal implantRetinal implants have been in use for over a decade, only until recently accept simply provided a very minimal level of vision — equivalent to about 20/1250 — and have needed to be wired to an external camera for input. Now, though, industry-leader Retina Implant has introduced a wireless version with i,500 electrodes on its 3mm square surface. Amazingly, previously-blind patients suffering from Retinitis Pigmentosa have been able to recognize faces and even read the text on signs. Another wireless approach, base on inquiry by Stanford professor Daniel Palanker's lab, involves projecting the processed camera data into the eye equally almost IR — and onto the retinal implants — from a special pair of glasses. The implants and then convert that to the correct electrical impulses to transmit to the brain's neurons. The applied science is being commercialized by vision tech company Pixium Vision equally its PRIMA Bionic Vision Restoration Arrangement, and is currently in clinical trials.

Even color-bullheaded people can do good from clever glasses

While astringent vision disorders impact a large number of people, even more suffer from the much more common trouble of colour blindness. There are many types of color blindness — some caused past missing the correct cones to discriminate 1 or more of the main colors. But many who have what is normally called "ruby-dark-green colorblindness" simply have cones with sensitivities that are besides close together to help distinguish betwixt cerise and green. Startup Enchroma stumbled across the idea of filtering out some of the overlap, after noticing that surgeons were often taking their OR glasses with them to the beach to use every bit sunglasses. From there, the company worked to tune the effect to help with color deficiency — the effect being less overall low-cal let through its glasses, merely a better ability to discriminate between ruby and light-green. If you lot're curious whether the company's glasses tin can help you, it offers an online test of your vision.

Accessibility tech breakthroughs for the blind

Startup blitab is adding braille to a standard tabletThere are plenty of limits on what medical technology tin can currently accomplish for those who are blind or vision-impaired. Fortunately, accessibility engineering science has also continued to accelerate. Nearly of u.s. are familiar with magnified cursors, zoomed-in text, and speech input-and-output, merely in that location are other more than sophisticated tools available. There are besides many to even list them here, but for example, startup blitab is creating a tablet for the world's estimated 150 meg braille users that features a tactile braille interface also equally speech communication input and output. On the lighter side, Pixar is developing an application that will provide a narrative description of the screen while viewers watch.

Even so good your vision, you're likely to benefit from medical technology for improving it at some point, since the incidence of vision-related conditions increases dramatically with age. Everyone somewhen suffers from at least relatively pocket-size weather like Presbyopia (the inability for the eye to accommodate to near and far focusing), and over 25% of those who make information technology to age eighty endure from major vision harm. Fifty-fifty for those of us with merely minor vision issues, the appearance of smartphone apps to assistance mensurate our vision and diagnose possible bug will help lower costs. With the rapid advances in microelectronics, surgical engineering, and augmented reality, though, in that location are likely to be some amazing treatments for those conditions in the future.

We're covering futurity medical technology all this week; read the rest of our Medical Tech Week stories for more. And be sure to check out our ExtremeTech Explains series for more in-depth coverage of today's hottest tech topics.

[Image credit: Wikipedia]