We have seen many a breakthrough in medical science due to technology. Everyday there is another seemingly insurmountable medical issue that leave doctors stumped, but now there may be one obstacle that could finally be done away with. Glasses. I, along with roughly 64% of the American population, wear them or some other type of corrective lenses to help their vision as documented by the Vision Council of America. Not just for the nearsighted and farsighted anymore, but now for the blind as well. Yes, glasses that may very well be able to help the blind be able to detect and register spacial information to the person wearing the glasses. So if this is, in fact, something of a medical miracle, how does it work? How will it help the blind actually “see”?

It is a company called Assisted Vision, working out of the University of Oxford that is making the breakthrough to give back a sense of vision to those without it. It is actually quite remarkable what they have been able to do with this new assisted technology. The glasses use the same type of OLED display that you would find in your mobile device or TV, to display the visual data captured by the two cameras found on the side of the frames. After the images have been captured by the camera, they go through a processing unit that is able to reduce the amount of data from the images and transmit them onto the lenses of the glasses. The glasses OLED display is able to show different intensities of light, different colors of light, and whether or not an object is standing still or moving. The built in compass and GPS are sure to be a big help too, one would think.

The ability to seemingly give sight back to those without it is something that some might see as oddly reminiscent of a miracle, and quite honestly, who could blame them. This is a huge step in medical science and technology that could help change the lives of many affected by cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and many other vision related issues, whether they be caused by age, injury, or disease. Being able to give back a sense of independence to those affected by their loss of sight something that will no doubt receive a lot of backing. Now the only issue is the price for these incredible “super” glasses, which has not even been set yet as the company is still working on their product. Assisted Vision has slated their first set of glasses to be put into commercial production by the end of 2014. These are definitely a product and company to look out for in the coming year. I have a feeling this could send waves around the world.