Smart Phone App Determines Eyeglass Prescription
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The NETRA Optical Cube. Credit; Andy Ryan, MIT |
By the end of an eye exam, it is almost impossible to tell which of the slightly different lenses produce the least blurry image. As a result, picking the correct eye glasses prescription remains more art than science. MITâs Media Lab hopes to change that, with a smart phone app that determines the correct glasses strength in a much more accurate way.
Called NETRA, the app asks users to align multicolored lines while looking through a monocle-like cube. The cube contains lenses that distorts the image in a predictable manner, and the program calculates the user’s vision based on how they compensate for that distortion.
The MIT scientists hope to market NETRA to doctors in the developing world, who often can’t afford the expensive and complex ophthalmological equipment more commonly used to measure eye problems.
The app isn’t fully operational yet, but the scientists plan on field testing the program in Boston over the next few months. When the program is released, it will work with a range of smart phones, not just the iPhone.
