Today’s Basics
Most smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers have built-in tools that can assist visually impaired people. These accessibility features can enlarge text or cursor size, adjust screen contrast, zoom in for close-ups of anything on the screen, convert speech to text, and skim information (equivalent to documents, texts, emails, or calendars) aloud.
Most devices (including smart speakers) even have built-in digital assistants that understand voice commands and might complete tasks for you. For example, you may ask a digital assistant to make a phone call, find information online, order groceries, provide you with directions, send you an email or text message, type information right into a document, play music, read you a book, or operate other smart home devices (equivalent to lights, thermostats, appliances, or home security systems).
Apps that help.
“There are probably 100 or more apps designed specifically to help people with visual impairments,” Bowers says. They can perform quite a lot of tasks, equivalent to the next.
Explaining what you see. Some apps can say out loud what your smartphone camera is seeing. For example, a Seeing AI app can discover products, people or currency. Describe the scene in front of you; Or read text and handwriting. (If you do not have a smartphone, OrCam MyEye does the identical thing, using a small camera that clips onto your glasses.) Other apps, like Be My Eyes or Ira, connect you to a live one that can let you know in real time what you are seeing. “You can use it in all kinds of situations. Maybe you’re at the train station and don’t know which way to go, or you need help shopping at the grocery store,” says Bowers.
Magnifying images. Smartphones include built-in magnifier apps. You also can download special magnifier apps, equivalent to SuperVision+ (developed by Massachusetts Eye and Ear Associate Scientist Gang Luo), that magnify and stabilize images. “This is important if your hand is shaking but you need to read the fine print on the medication instructions or the bill,” says Bowers.
Helping you navigate. There are apps to enable you to get to your destination, not only by saying step-by-step directions out loud (as Google Maps does), but by describing the terrain around you, helping you discover bus stops (because the Massachusetts Eye & Ears All-Aboard app does), alerting you to a bus arriving at a bus stop (very similar to providing you with blind or inbound directions). does).
Note: Apps for the visually impaired may or will not be free, so make sure that you do your research before installing them. Some services can be found by subscription only. One example is Aira’s connection to a live one that tells you what you are watching: it’s worthwhile to buy a specific amount of minutes monthly to make use of it (starting at $26 monthly).
Wearable tech
Some of the tools that enable you to address vision loss are wearables—in a headset, in glasses, or in a tool that matches over your glasses. Some have software that makes it possible to see far or near, and might be helpful for individuals with macular degeneration, glaucoma and other eye conditions. For example:
Spectacle mounted telescopes. They magnify objects in the gap, and you should use them for driving (a “bioptic” telescope) or for viewing computer screens, TVs, or people’s faces. Some have autofocus features.
Video display system. This kind of low-vision device (like eSight) is the future-looking headset. It has a high-definition video camera that captures what it sees and projects the photographs onto screens contained in the headset. Images might be enlarged to enhance, magnify or enhance your field of view. Some gadgets also enable you to stream TV shows or watch the pc screen. (There are also handheld versions of those tools.)
These high-tech devices cost hundreds of dollars, which is in regards to the same as getting a pair of hearing aids. The US Department of Veterans Affairs covers some devices for some veterans, but Medicare doesn’t. You need to examine whether your private insurance covers a selected device.
Peripheral prism glasses
People who’ve suffered a stroke or traumatic brain injury sometimes lose half of their vision (a condition called hemenopia). PaleoLens, developed by Bowers and Eli Paley, a senior scientist at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, can assist.
“Peli Lens uses a high-powered prism to move light from one side of your eye to the other, giving you back 30° of lost vision,” says Bowers. “We are now setting up a clinical trial to evaluate a different type of prism that is even more powerful than a pale lens, and has the potential to provide up to 45° of lost vision.”
Other Tools
Many other tools could make life easier for individuals with low vision. There are household gadgets equivalent to “talking” thermometers, scales, and calculators that audibly read results. Books with large print, filters to scale back screen glare, and even good old-fashioned magnifying glasses are helpful.
But the more the technology advances, the more it is going to appear in low-vision devices. “Computing power continues to grow every year,” Bowers says. “Scientists are constantly trying to find ways to improve assistive devices.”
Photo courtesy of Be My Eyes