New eSight glasses help the legally blind see
Suddenly, Regan could read a newspaper while eating breakfast and make out the faces of co-workers from across the room.
The headsets transmit images from a forward-facing camera to small internal screens — one for each eye — in a way that beams the video into the wearer’s peripheral vision.
While eSight’s headsets don’t require the approval of health regulators — they fall into the same low-risk category as dental floss — there’s not yet firm evidence of their benefits.
The company is funding clinical trials to provide that proof.
Insurers won’t cover the cost; they consider the glasses an “assistive” technology similar to hearing aids.
ESight CEO Brian Mech said the latest improvements might help insurers overcome their shortsighted view of his product.
The latest version of ESight’s technology, built with investments of $32 million over the past decade, is a gadget that vaguely resembles the visor worn by the blind “Star Trek” character Geordi La Forge, played by LeVar Burton.
Others, ranging from kids to senior citizens, have worn the gadgets to golf, watch football or just perform daily tasks such as reading nutrition labels.
[...] they take still images, analyze them with image recognition software and then generate an automated voice that describes what the wearer is looking at — anything from a child to words written on a page.