In late 2011 Ucansi Inc announced GlassesOff an app to improve age related vision deterioration from Presbopia – farsightedness. The app has now been through extensive Beta testing and is due to be released soon. Presbyopia is a condition ubiquitous of those above forty. As we age the lenses in our eyes lose elasticity and can’t readily adjust to focus close up. This results in tired eyes, headaches and the need for reading glasses. Their published study demonstrated that by following a visual training program subjects achieved a 10 year improvement in eye age – often no longer requiring reading glasses. The GlassesOff™ program is a non-invasive, pure software solution that targets brain performance rather than lens ageing.

The software trains the user to detect patterns called Gabor patches (pictured above) – blurry lines created by varying a gray background. Training begins by staring at a white circle on the screen. Next a series of patterns are shown and the user must determine which pattern has appeared at the same spot that the target did. As the user improves the software adapts the orientation of patterns, speed and position.

After forty such training sessions over a three month period test subjects reported substancial improvements in reading ability. Volunteers averaging 51 years old reported reading 2 lines further down optical charts and taking over half the time to read through a single newspaper page. In each case eyes are physically unchanged with the improvement being made to the brains optical processing ability.

Due to clinical testing the final release of the app has been delayed. Initially GlassesOff it will be available for iOS and Android mobile devices followed later by a desktop solution. The cost was initially touted at $95 for three month subscription plan but final details have not yet been released. You can keep updated on the final release of GlassesOff via email or their Facebook Page.

Justin is an Android advocate and currently owns a Nexus Phone and 7 Tab, preferring the clean Google flavour over Samsung and HTC clones. While not writing about he can be found hiking in the outdoors.