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E'er since the invention of the magnifying glass nearly 25 centuries ago, we've been using technology to help u.s. see ameliorate. For most of us, the fix is fairly simple, such as a pair of glasses or contact lenses. But for many with more seriously impaired vision — estimated at effectually 285 million people worldwide — engineering has been brusk 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 un-sighted. They're also part of a wide swath of new medical advances we'll be roofing all this week here at ExtremeTech in our new Medical Tech serial.

Superman glasses for the vision-impaired

These space-age-style smart glasses from Vast can help the vision-impaired see what is around themWe're all familiar with the accessibility options available on our computers, including larger cursors, high-contrast fonts, and magnified screens. Merely those practise zip to assistance the vision-impaired navigate the residuum of their day. Instead, a number of different "smart glasses" have been invented that help make the residue of the globe more accessible.

These glasses work past using the image from one or more than cameras — ofttimes including a depth sensor — and processing it to pass-along an enhanced version of the scene to a pair of displays in forepart of the eyes. Deciding on the all-time way to enhance the image — autofocus, zoom, object outlining, etc. — is an active area of research, as the best way for the wearer to control them. Right now they tend to crave an external box that does the epitome processing and has knobs for controlling settings. Emerging technologies including eye tracking will provide improved ways to control these devices. Better object recognition algorithms will likewise help better their utility. One twenty-four hour period it will exist piece of cake to have these glasses know enough to highlight house keys, or a wallet, or other commonly-needed, merely sometimes hard to locate, possessions.

One of the more clever solutions comes out of Oxford, via Google Global Affect Challenge winner VA-ST. I had a chance to try out VA-ST's prototype Smart Specs terminal year, and can see how they could exist very helpful for those who otherwise can't make out details of a scene. It'south difficult, though, to become a existent experience for their effectiveness unless you are actually suffering from a particular vision impairment. Some work is beingness done to aid simulate these conditions, and allow those with normal vision to evaluate solutions. Merely until and so willing subject participants with uncommon vision disorders are actually a scarce resource for scientists attempting to do trials of their devices.

The VA-ST system highlights edges and objects to make important parts of a scene more visibleMost solutions available today suffer not simply from technical issues like how they are controlled, only cut off eye contact and are socially awkward — which has likewise hampered their adoption. Less-obtrusive devices using wave guides, similar the ones developed past Israeli startup Lumus, will exist needed to overcome this issue. Startup GiveVision is already demoing a version of its vision-assisting article of clothing using Lumus wave guides to assist make information technology more effective and less obtrusive. Similar advanced augmented reality brandish engineering is also beingness used in Microsoft'due south HoloLens and Magic Spring's much-rumored device. While it is by and large mainstream AR devices like those that are driving the technology to market, at that place is no doubt the medical device sector will exist quick to have advantage of it.

Other efforts to raise awareness of the visual earth, including EyeMusic, return salient aspects of the scene — such every bit altitude to the closest object — as 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 crave placing anything over the wearer'southward optics, so they don't interfere with middle contact.

Retinal implants provide sight for many of the blind

In many bullheaded people — especially those suffering from Retinitis Pigmentosa and age-related Macular Degeneration — the retinal receptors may be missing, but the neurons that carry information from them to the brain are intact. In that instance, it is sometimes possible to install a sensor — an artificial 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 learn to make sense of the input and partial 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 employ for over a decade, simply until recently have merely 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 ane,500 electrodes on its 3mm square surface. Amazingly, previously-blind patients suffering from Retinitis Pigmentosa accept been able to recognize faces and even read the text on signs. Another wireless arroyo, base on research by Stanford professor Daniel Palanker'southward lab, involves projecting the candy camera information into the eye as near IR — and onto the retinal implants — from a special pair of glasses. The implants so convert that to the right electric impulses to transmit to the brain's neurons. The engineering science is being commercialized past vision tech company Pixium Vision as its PRIMA Bionic Vision Restoration System, and is currently in clinical trials.

Fifty-fifty color-blind people can benefit from clever glasses

While astringent vision disorders bear upon a large number of people, fifty-fifty more suffer from the much more common problem of color blindness. At that place are many types of color blindness — some acquired past missing the correct cones to discriminate one or more of the master colors. But many who have what is commonly chosen "red-green colorblindness" only have cones with sensitivities that are likewise close together to help distinguish between carmine and green. Startup Enchroma stumbled across the idea of filtering out some of the overlap, later noticing that surgeons were often taking their OR spectacles with them to the embankment to use as sunglasses. From there, the company worked to tune the effect to assist with color deficiency — the result being less overall light let through its glasses, simply a amend ability to discriminate between crimson 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 currently accomplish for those who are blind or vision-dumb. Fortunately, accessibility applied science has also connected to advance. Almost of us are familiar with magnified cursors, zoomed-in text, and speech input-and-output, but there are other more than sophisticated tools bachelor. There are too many to even list them here, but for instance, startup blitab is creating a tablet for the world's estimated 150 million braille users that features a tactile braille interface every bit well equally speech input and output. On the lighter side, Pixar is developing an awarding that will provide a narrative description of the screen while viewers watch.

Yet adept your vision, you're likely to benefit from medical technology for improving it at some point, since the incidence of vision-related weather increases dramatically with historic period. Everyone somewhen suffers from at least relatively minor conditions like Presbyopia (the inability for the eye to accommodate to about and far focusing), and over 25% of those who make it to age 80 suffer from major vision damage. Even for those of us with only modest vision issues, the advent of smartphone apps to assistance measure our vision and diagnose possible problems will help lower costs. With the rapid advances in microelectronics, surgical technology, and augmented reality, though, there are likely to be some amazing treatments for those weather condition in the future.

We're covering future medical technology all this week; read the residual of our Medical Tech Week stories for more. And be sure to cheque out our ExtremeTech Explains serial for more in-depth coverage of today'south hottest tech topics.

[Prototype credit: Wikipedia]