Skip to main content

In the future, screens may correct your eyesight problems, not glasses

A team of scientists at the University of California are developing a new type of screen technology, which could correct vision problems without the need for the viewer to wear glasses. The research is still in the early stages, but an article published by the MIT Technology Review gives us a rundown on how the tech will work.

A plastic screen with thousands of tiny holes has been placed over an iPod Touch, on which special software adjusts the amount of light shown by each pixel. This means the device controls how light reaches your eyes, so it can artificially recreate a sharp image. It’s called a Light Field Display, and it’s best to think of it like a pair of glasses in reverse, because it understands how our eyes will try and distort what’s shown on the screen, and adjusts the picture to suit. To effectively test the theory, a Canon DSLR camera was setup to simulate someone with a range of common vision problems.

Recommended Videos

It’s not just glasses wearers who will benefit from this new approach, but also those who can’t wear them due to more serious problems. However, there are still a few problems which need to be solved before the project can move forward. Of course, the screen needs to be tuned to the viewer’s eyes, and more importantly, their focal length. Sit too close or too far away, and it may not work effectively. We can see Amazon Fire Phone-style eye-tracking tech being used to solve this, but apparently, we tend to move around naturally to bring images into focus too.

The individual nature of the screen makes it a problem for multiple viewers, but scientists on the project say this could be cured by using a very high pixel density screen. A figure around twice that of the iPod Touch – that’s approximately 650 pixels per inch – could do the job, but this is beyond what we’re seeing on even the best smartphones (the LG G3 has 538ppi, for example) at the moment.

The team will present their research paper at a science exhibition in Canada during August. The project is exciting, but we’re still a few years away from seeing a working prototype that could free us from our specs.

[Image courtesy of Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock]

Andy Boxall
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
OnePlus updates Watch 3 price for the US, and it’s good news
A person wearing the OnePlus Watch 3, showing the Wellness screen.

OnePlus has just announced that the price of its Watch 3 is going to drop back down.

The company originally launched it at $329.99. Then, due to what it called "current market conditions" in the U.S., that price hiked to $499.99 on April 10.

Read more
iPhone 17 final look leaks may be what we’re getting
Alleged Render of iPhone 17 Air.

The new iPhone 17 appears to be just ahead of final staging before going into mass production, adding weight to recent leaked images.

Yup, that should mean the image above, along with many leaks similar, are on track to be accurate.

Read more
This new Android chip could leave the iPhone 17 in its dust
Snapdragon 8 Elite 2

The new Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 could arrive in time to take on the iPhone 17 in a powerful way.

According to a Digital Chat Station rumour we can expect Qualcomm to reveal its next-gen mobile chip sooner than anticipated.

Read more