Many people have extreme vision loss but can still detect some images. An upgrade to smart goggles could help more people see.
Even if you have lost much of your vision to macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, or other conditions, you may still retain partial vision. Products are available that can “reroute” images to the part of your vision that still functions so that you can see them. IrisVision is one such product. The prior version required that you mount a Samsung Galaxy smartphone in a goggles frame; it was bulky and heavy. The company has now released a new, lighter version called the IrisVision Inspire that uses a thin wire tether to connect to a smartphone. It can provide magnified views of images from the built-in camera, and can manipulate the image to adapt to your impaired vision. The device is not inexpensive at $4,000, but keep in mind that this is about the same price of a pair of prescription hearing aids. Adaptive technology like the IrisVision Inspire has the potential to transform the lives of people with impaired vision.