Researchers announced the development of a new telescopic contact lens as well as complementary "smart glasses" that recognize winks and could allow the wearer switch between magnified and normal vision.
The inventions were announced this week at the AAAS Annual Meeting in by Eric Tremblay from EPFL, the University reported.
"We think these lenses hold a lot of promise for low vision and age-related macular degeneration (AMD)," Tremblay said. "It's very important and hard to strike a balance between function and the social costs of wearing any kind of bulky visual device. There is a strong need for something more integrated, and a contact lens is an attractive direction. At this point this is still research, but we are hopeful it will eventually become a real option for people with AMD."
The telescopic contact, which magnifies 2.8 times, works by incorporating a thin reflective telescope into a 1.55 millimeter thick lens. Tiny mirrors inside the lens bounce the light around, expanding objects and magnifying the view.
The researchers also created a unique method for electronically switching views between unmagnified and telescopic vision "on demand." In this system, the accompanying electronic glasses use a small light source and light detector to "recognize winks and ignore blinks." If the wearer winks their right eye, the lenses will switch to the magnified view, and winking the left eye switches them back to normal vision.
The glasses electronically select a polarization of light to reach the contact lenses, allowing the polarization in the 1x aperture and another in the 2.8x aperture. The wearer can then see the view where the polarization of the glasses meets the aperature.
"The combination of the telescopic contact lenses and optional blink-controlled eyewear represent a huge leap in functionality and usability in vision aid devices and a major feat for optics research," the researchers said.
