'GlassesOff,' iPhone App, Helps Train Brain To Improve Vision And Reading Speed

Relying on your reading glasses could become a thing of the past. Now scientists have developed a brain training iPhone app that teaches the mind to process blurred images.

By boosting the speed and quality of image processing in the brain, the new app can help our eyes compensate for our vision's inevitable deterioration over time.

"We're using the brain as glasses," said Uri Polat of Tel Aviv University and co-founder of Ucansi in an interview with the New Scientist.

Dubbed GlassesOff, the app could delay the need for reading glasses as you age.

This may sound too good to be true. But the clinical trials are actually promising.

The Daily Mail reports that volunteers at the University of California, Berkeley who tested the app with 40 training sessions showed almost a 10-year improvement in their eye age, allowing them to read two lines further down an eye chart and four seconds a sentence quicker than before using the app.

The app will be made available early next year with a three month subscription at $90, notes The Telegraph.

But for those of you still relying on your eyeglasses, you may want to opt foranother app that lets you try on your glasses virtually. Created by a French optician and eyeglass retailer Atol, Macstories.net reports, it uses on face recognition technology to allow you to try on various types of models.

Comments

[caprawalie]

03:22 PM on 10/03/2011

How about an app that can think for us!

[KarateKid]

09:55 AM on 10/03/2011

I have to take my glasses OFF to read. So, how's this app going to help me?

[Drew Lawless]

11:11 PM on 10/02/2011

Just another excuse to look at your phone. LOL

[Mary Yam]

11:16 PM on 10/01/2011

Can't wait to try this.

[ghee99]

05:04 PM on 10/01/2011

$90 for three months?

no thanks, i'll just download it for free about a week after it comes out

when app makers become too predatory, they should not be supported, 

otherwise, how will they learn?

[atmosphere1823]

11:31 PM on 10/01/2011

How do you download it for free?
That sounds like a good idea.

[ghee99]

02:11 AM on 10/02/2011

well, one way to download something like this (not that i would ever do it this way personally)

would be (i have ben told) to jailbreak your iphone, and then just download all the apps you want from a bit torrent site

the same sites, that (once again, i have been told, but of course do not know from personal experience) allow their users to download free movies, tv shows and music for free

[ConfuciusSay-]

12:16 PM on 10/02/2011

It seems excessively overpriced.

I'll just wear my glasses, and enjoy the crispness of images.

[karen lyons kalmenson]

03:00 PM on 10/01/2011

love the eyephone

[cframe423]

02:54 PM on 10/01/2011

There's a sucker born every minute!

Don't waste your money. Go to an eye doctor and get an eye exam, as its important that the health of your eyes is examined as well as your vision.

[tonyjim]

04:00 PM on 10/01/2011

So when can I schedule a visit?

[ConfuciusSay-]

12:16 PM on 10/02/2011

There's an app for that.

[Mools]

09:25 PM on 10/01/2011

As a glasses wearer, I go regularly for eye exams. My prescription is very low and hasn't really changed over the years, but I have gone from rarely needing my glasses (only distance reading or watching TV) to needing to wear them all the time. I asked my doc about this and he said when you wear glasses, your eyes get lazy and stop trying to focus on their own. So while my eyes aren't technically getting worse, I am much more dependant on my glasses.

I would definitely be interested in exercises/tests that get those muscles back working properly again. Though not $90 interested. It wouldn't take long before the subscription becomes much more expensive than my actually glasses.

[jimd8575]

12:10 AM on 10/02/2011

DONT WORRY,GOOGLE OR MICROSOFT WILL COME OUT REAL QUICK WITH THEIR VERSION OF THIS IPHONE APP JUST LIKE THEY ALWAYS DO. PROBABLY FOR FREE TOO!

[jsgaetano]

01:56 PM on 10/01/2011

I've heard of this decades ago. Many other cultures actually developed "exercises" to keep your eyesight working well. This is why watching TV or a computer screen is bad for your eyes- because your vision isn't having to constantly readjust. It's the occular equivalent of sitting on a couch all day.

[Iagree]

04:45 PM on 10/01/2011

I remember radio commercials for the "See Clearly Method" with Marian Hartley

[jsgaetano]

12:37 AM on 10/02/2011

Oh that's right, I recall that from a few years back. Not sure if the claims were far-fetched (saying a person can throw away their glasses ignores issues where exercise wouldn't help), never really looked into it. I'm sure it would have had some benefit for a lot of people, however.

[Gavin Saunders]

08:12 PM on 10/01/2011

As of this minute I'll periodically looking away from my screen and properly focus on designated objects in the room and then back to my laptop...... at least when I'm loading a new page.

[Johnny Malangone]

01:38 PM on 10/01/2011

I want this!

[Rick Eriksen]

12:42 PM on 10/01/2011

Don't the muscles around the eye control vision...which is why, everyone that gets past forty starts to need at least reading glasses, those musces weaken...also if you are younger isn't it, (as in near sighted or far sighted) the shape of the eye that controls the information getting to your brain which is why you need glasses to alter that...so how is retaining your brain going to change convoluted information, especailly if you can't see it...

Nothing personal here, but I think these guys are full of BS...

[jsgaetano]

01:59 PM on 10/01/2011

All muscles can benefit from exercise (including the muscles in the eyes). But I've been told another issue is the lens starts to harden, also causing degradation of vision. This can be corrected for (with a laser surgery or a newer prescription of eyeglasses, for example), but the lesson is nothing stays the same.

[Mools]

09:27 PM on 10/01/2011

Yes, the muscles around the eyes control vision by pulling on the eye to help focus. But your brain controls your muscles. Especially the muscles that move without really thinking...like those around your eyes that control focusing and blinking.

But you are correct that if someone is born with a misshapen eyes, then no amount of brain exercises will help.

[rgburrill]

11:48 AM on 10/01/2011

$30 a month? You can buy a new pair of reading glasses every month for less than that!

[karen lyons kalmenson]

03:01 PM on 10/01/2011

even at $30 a month i need someone to lens me the money;-D

[btbamfan]

11:21 AM on 10/01/2011

It would be nice if this applied to people who already have glasses, not just for reading, but simply because their eyes are terrible.

*Cough, cough*

[TFlint]

11:06 AM on 10/01/2011

Another interesting App is Tinitus Trainer, which helps thoe with ringing in their ears block the ringing by learning to tune it out. It works pretty well if used correctly and frequently.

[rgburrill]

11:49 AM on 10/01/2011

Here's an idea - TURN THE VOLUME DOWN.

[The Platzner Post]

10:53 AM on 10/01/2011

They have an App for that!!!

[Lymbo]

10:45 AM on 10/01/2011

Now if they could only make an app for short-sighted conservatives.