Legally blind people might lose hope in restoring vision through conventional eye operations, but there is a new technology that proves to be effective in restoring reading abilities – wearable camera.
Source: CNN Money via OrCam Technologies
Source: OrCam Technologies
At the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s annual meeting, a research was presented showing that legally blind study participants were able improve their accuracy in daily activities more than thrice, which includes reading and non-reading, just by wearing a camera. Called the Orcam MyEye, the camera is mounted on a pair of glasses, with the technology that automatically recognizes faces and text and allows the text to be view into the earpiece.
Source: The Chicago Lighthouse Adaptive Technology Center
Source: OrCam
A separate study was conducted to test the effectiveness of the camera, wherein a dozen legally blind individuals were involved. A 10-item test was used in simulating everyday activities such as reading a newspaper or a sign, both with and without the device.
Source: OrCam
It was found that without the wearable camera, the participants scored 2.5 out of 10. When worn with another vision aid, they got a 6. But with the wearable camera, they achieved a 9.5 score. Seeing the results of the test, the participants proceeded on wearing the cameral for another week, after which a new test was conducted and the score went up to 9.8.