A viral YouTube video has brought attention to an engineering innovation that allows legally blind people to see. In the video, Kathy Beitz, who lost most of her vision due to Stargardt disease, sees her newborn for the first time with the help of an electronic device called eSight. The electronic glasses are FDA-approved, with patented technology. They use a headset and a prescription lens frame. Users watch a live video stream with optimized LED display.
A processing unit houses the battery and its hand controller allows the user to adjust contrast, brightness, and color, in order to provide the best possible vision. In fact, the glasses allow legally blind people to see even better than average, because they can zoom in on objects with 14 times the magnification of normal vision. The device uses a high-speed camera, patented video processing software, computer processor, and video organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens to project real-time images.
Users must have some natural vision in order for it to function, but it is still helpful for legally blind people such as Beitz, who can only see blurry shapes. The current price of esight is $15,000. In coming years the company hopes to reduce both the size of the bulky glasses and the price tag.
Source: ESight | Yvonne Felix YouTube
