Outlook Nebraska, Inc. (ONI; outlooknebraska.org) has launched a year-long study of the eSight Eyewear, the digital glasses for the visually impaired.
The glasses work through a digital camera mounted on the outside of the frame, projecting images onto screens immediately in front of the wearer’s eyes on the inside of the frame. The glasses allow for the images to be magnified up to 14 times and provide tools for six different contrast settings, freezing images to avoid natural head shaking. They can be plugged directly into any digital device including a computer or smart phone to have the image projected onto the screen in the glasses.
Over 15 ONI associates with a variety of vision loss conditions and ranges from 20/200 to 20/800+ tried on the glasses. Nearly all of the associates demonstrated a tenfold increase in chart reading capacity, going from 20/800 to 20/80, even from 20/200 to reading 20/20! A majority reported it was the most clearly they had seen in years if not in their lifetime.
ONI is not only the first NIB agency to provide eSight glasses as an adaptive technology, but also the first business in the US and the first manufacturing environment. Some eSight users work in ONI’s tissue converting operation, packing and palletizing boxes, and others operate the machines or support production on the manufacturing floor. ONI also has users in its administrative offices in sales and accounting.