NEW YORK, July 16, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Data from a recent presentation at the FENS forum of Neuroscience in Barcelona, Spain, demonstrated that people with presbyopia who trained with mobile device-based software were able to read newspaper-sized font without the need for reading glasses.
The study utilized a new platform called GlassesOff™, which may help eliminate the need for reading glasses in people who experience the inevitable near-vision deterioration (often referred to as presbyopia) present in all people beginning around age 40. GlassesOff is a non-invasive, pure software solution that targets brain function rather than lens aging.
Presbyopia is the inevitable condition related to hardening of the crystalline lens inside the eye that affects most people by the age of 40 and practically everyone by the age of 50, making it difficult to see near objects clearly without the aid of reading glasses.
"This study provides evidence of the fact that brain function has a robust impact on visual perception, similar in magnitude to that of the ocular function. The results of this study show that training may improve both sensitivity and processing speed of the visual system in order to compensate for the optically degraded input transmitted by the aging eye," said Uri Polat, Ph.D., Goldshleger Eye Research Institute, Tel-Aviv University, Israel. "Moreover, the results suggest that the aging brain retains enough plasticity to overcome the lens's natural biological deterioration with age, and potentially help improve the quality of life of aging population."
In the study subjects age 40 and over trained on contrast detection of Gabor targets under backward masking conditions, posing temporal constraints on the visual processing. The training, which was for about 15 minutes per session, three times weekly over about 10 weeks, covered a range of spatial frequencies and orientations that were modified in accordance with the subjects' improvement. Ultimately, the study demonstrated an 81 percent improvement in visual acuity.
The results of this study are supportive of a previously published study from Scientific Reports, which showed that following training with the GlassesOff product, near visual acuity – the standard for measurement of clearness of vision (expressed as the minimum angle of resolution) – improved from an average of 2.44 arc minute to 1.56 arc minute, gaining an effective reduction of 8.6 years in the age of their eyes. Importantly visual acuity was demonstrated to improve after training with GlassesOff two-to-three times per week over a period of three months regardless of the age of the subject. Further, all subjects whose near vision abilities did not allow them to read standard newspaper-sized fonts without reading-glasses, were able to read freely following GlassesOff use. In addition, average reading speed increased by 17 words per minute saving about 9 minutes when reading a 2,000 words article at a minimal font size. The study can be accessed at http://www.nature.com/scientificreports.
ABOUT GLASSESOFF™
GlassesOff™ is a product of Ucansi, Inc., a company developing next-generation software applications for vision improvement. GlassesOff™ was developed specifically as a noninvasive solution for "aging eye." Aging eye is the inevitable natural deterioration in visual ability that affects most people by the age of 40 and practically everyone by the age of 50, making it difficult to see near objects clearly without the aid of reading glasses. The GlassesOff product is based on scientific breakthroughs in the area of eye-brain functions. GlassesOff is scheduled for launch in 2012 on the iOS platform, including iPhone, iPod and iPad, followed by an Android version.