Can an iPhone App Train Eyes to Delay Use of Reading Glasses?
iPhone users with 20-20 vision can worry less about reading glasses, as an app has been designed to delay one's need for reading glasses, UK's Telegraph reports.
The app called GlassesOff could help users read as normal even at an age, when biology normally dictates one to get reading glasses, its developers said.
Uri Polat, of Tel Aviv University in Israel and co-founder of Ucansi, the company which designed the software, told the New Scientist magazine: "We're using the brain as glasses."
The Telegraph says the app will be launched on the iPhone next year.
Developers say the app will train one's mind to sharpen blurry images, as it will compensate for the natural deterioration of the eyes.
At 50 years old, New Scientist explains the lenses in our eyes to become less able to focus on objects that are close to us.
In the new app, groups of blurry lines known as Gabor patches appear at several points across the screen and the user will be cued to watch out when one appears in the centre.
After using the app 40 times, users with an average age of 51 were able to read two lines lower on an optical chart held 40cm from their face. This is effectively a reduction in "eye age" from 50.5 to 41.9 years, the feature explains.
They were also able to read a page of the New York Times by an average of 5.3 minutes, from a time of more than 12 minutes before using the app.
The app is expected to cost about £60 for an initial three-month self-training. Self-imposed follow through trainings would cost a monthly top-up fees.