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New Display Technology Corrects For Vision Defects

Posted by Unknown on from the fuzzy-pixels dept.

rtoz (2530056) writes Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have developed a new display technology that automatically corrects for vision defects without requiring glasses or contact lenses. This technique could lead to dashboard-mounted GPS displays that farsighted drivers can consult without putting their glasses on, or electronic readers that eliminate the need for reading glasses. The display is a variation on a glasses-free 3-D technology: a 3-D display projects slightly different images to the viewer's left and right eyes. Similarly, this vision-correcting display projects slightly different images to different parts of the viewer's pupil.

18 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. Honey...have you seen my 3D displays? by turkeydance · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did you leave them in the car, again?

  2. Personal computers by TWX · · Score: 2

    This would be really nice in the personal computer realm, be it laptop or desktop, assuming that it fits in those form-factors.

    I barely need glasses to drive, for distance. I can read books held in my hands without glasses. Laptops and desktops are every so slightly too far away to usually be able to do that. I would love to be able to ditch the glasses when at my desk at work.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:Personal computers by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      I would love this for my phone.

      I am nearsighted. I have no problem reading my phone but I have problems seeing things that are far away. So I wear my glasses when I drive, bike, or go to movies. It's not too bad--I have driven without my glasses by mistake before with no major collisions. I've seen movies without my glasses and I can tell what's happening on the screen. But having glasses on definitely helps.

      So if I'm nearsighted, why would I need this?

      Because, with my glasses on, I have a hard time focusing on close things--like, say, my phone. Yes, I know, the answer is bifocals. But wouldn't it be cool if my phone could look at my face, go "Oh, look, he's got his glasses on!" and adjust the screen appropriately for my eyes behind the glasses?

  3. Already a Standard Feature by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Simply press "+"

  4. Might be nifty... by The+Technomancer · · Score: 1

    ...but sometimes I really wonder how disconnected from reality people are that think a reader featuring this display is going to replace a ten-buck pair of reading glasses you can get at the drug store, or thinks that by the time this gets cheap enough to put in a dash-mounted GPS display that those will even still be a thing. In-car dash-mounted GPS devices have pretty much already been replaced by cell-phones and built-in displays. Criticisms of the possible uses in the summary aside, seems like this would be good for computer displays (especially laptops) and TVs, and would definitely have military applications.

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

    -- Arthur C. Clarke

  5. Meanwhile, in nVidia land... by Mister+Liberty · · Score: 1

    my GPU fell off the bus. Now there's a vision defect.

  6. I don't get it by thieh · · Score: 2

    I suppose use cases like people reading over my shoulder or sharing a screen are bound to be plentiful. Whose vision will it adjust to if it is automatic?

    1. Re:I don't get it by BadgerRush · · Score: 1

      It won't ajust automaticaly. According to the video the solution has a hardware component and a software component. The software is configurable and can be setup to different prescriptions (or the lack off), but the hardware (a lensing film to be placed on top of the screen) is specific to one prescription.

      But, even withtout the flexibility to ajust to other people's sights, I think this technology has a huge potential in very personal devices like mobile phones. I believe many people would gladly give up the avility to show their phone to other people, in exchange to the added ability to not have to fumble for their reading glasses every time they want to check something on the screen.

    2. Re:I don't get it by thieh · · Score: 1

      Yay for privacy screen just by virtue of being too blurred to be read by anyone else.

  7. Re:You've lost me by brucek1999 · · Score: 1

    The only reason a FARsighted person needs glasses to drive is to see the dashboard controls (speed and gauges) or GPS. As those continue to move towards digital displays, this does make some sense. I love the promise of this tech because wearing my progressives to drive is tiring, especially at night. Now, assuming they can make it work in such a way that it is not equally tiring AND can be engineered to be affordable... sign me up!

  8. Re:You've lost me by mcswell · · Score: 2, Informative

    Um - no. I'm farsighted, and like all farsighted people, I can see things at a distance (other cars, say, or the cell phone in that driver's hand) just fine. It's the text on my own cell's gps that I can't see without my reading glasses. (I have 20-14 vision, meaning I can see at 20 feet what the average person needs to stand 14 feet away to see. I just can't focus up close, meaning a foot or two away.) So no, I do NOT need my glasses to drive. And unlike you, I'm not lost.

  9. Good for HMD's by drkim · · Score: 1

    This would be great for HMD's too. You could design them to be worn without having to accommodate glasses.

  10. How does this work exactly? by zennling · · Score: 1

    I need my glasses to read detail - the only way I am going to be able to see is with giant letters. Putting some software on to a box on my dash doesnt change distance from eyes to the dash, thus the focal length is the same. No amount of pixel shifting is going to allow my eyes to focus on it and resolve the image sharply. this might work for people who are only very slightly farsighted.

    1. Re:How does this work exactly? by OolimPhon · · Score: 1

      Yep. I have different degrees of long-sightedness in each eye plus varying amounts of astigmatism. How is a gadget like this going to show each eye what it needs?

      Since I'm already wearing glasses to drive with, my eyes would have to adapt again to view whatever this gadget is displaying. They're already doing that without spending money on the gadget. FAIL.

    2. Re:How does this work exactly? by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      I'm still not quite sure how it is they've solved this issue they claim, however the ability to selectively transmit information to make the image seem to appear between the eye and the screen is the wrong solution. For those over 40, the problem isn't moving the screen closer but rather needing it further away. I have this happen if I put my phone too close in the car - I can't effectively see the GPS prompts or warnings without a second or so of re-focusing effort, and even then it's a challenge with my normal glasses on (seeing it without my glasses is fine, but then distant objects are indistinct).

      What's needed is to be able to focus on this object as if it were further away than the screen.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    3. Re:How does this work exactly? by BadgerRush · · Score: 1

      Puting your glasses also don't change the distance from your eyes to the objects. Instead the lenses bend light so it is indistinguishble from light coming from another distance, and that is exactly what this solution does, in simple terms it is like putting the glasses on the device instead of on your face.

  11. Re:Ookkaayyy... by BadgerRush · · Score: 1

    What about people who need "reading glasses". Those people navigate the rest of reality very well without their glasses (actually puting their glasses limits their reality navigation ability), those need their glasses only to read and I bet many would apreciate a phone that you can just pull out of the pocket and read instead of also pulling the glasses from the other pocket.

  12. Every day... by GrantRobertson · · Score: 1

    Slashdot reminds me of just how ignorant and yet unjustifiably arrogant and egotistical most tech nerds are. It sickens me to see so many people without the slightest degree of empathy or ability to understand that their limited experience is not (can not) be the be-all-end-all of reality.

    There are a large variety of vision problems. Many make it difficult to change focus quickly or at all. How something as basic as this can escape so many people would be funny if it weren't so indicative of a general trend of horrible education and willful ignorance.

    I know. If it weren't for idiots and trolls then /. wouldn't be /.. But if your traditions suck, then maybe you should really try to ditch them.