Improve your vision with an app

Peter Aldhous

A system that trains your brain to overcome degrading vision as you age will soon be available as an iPhone app

WE HAVE gotten used to the idea that smartphone apps can substitute for devices like GPS navigation systems or portable music players. But the latest item on the list may come as a surprise: reading glasses.

Early next year, a company called Ucansi will launch GlassesOff, an iPhone app that could help older people shed their reading glasses for at least part of the time - and may allow others to carry on reading without optical aids for years longer than would otherwise be possible.

The app helps people compensate for deterioration in their eyes' ability to focus on nearby objects by training the brain to process the resulting blurred images. "We're using the brain as glasses," says Uri Polat of Tel Aviv University in Israel, and co-founder of Ucansi.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at October 11, 2011 3:10 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas