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IXI's autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses

engadget.com

31–40 of 108 posts

Re: IXI's autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses

#31
post #22

Looks super cool! > It still needs to obtain the necessary medical certifications in order to sell its glasses and get all the production pieces in place Oh, ok. I hope they have enough funding to last till the FDA clears them, in 2030 :/ The same organization which allows any snake oil to be marketed as long as they say it’s a “supplement” will hold a pair of glasses up for years, as though there could be a hidden d…

You should look into dietary supplement regulations, specifically about label claims and advertising.

Re: IXI's autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses

#32
post #22

Looks super cool! > It still needs to obtain the necessary medical certifications in order to sell its glasses and get all the production pieces in place Oh, ok. I hope they have enough funding to last till the FDA clears them, in 2030 :/ The same organization which allows any snake oil to be marketed as long as they say it’s a “supplement” will hold a pair of glasses up for years, as though there could be a hidden d…

There is potential danger with a lens that can suddenly change to a second prescription. For example: imagine you're driving and your whole field of vision suddenly starts flickering in and out of focus. That would be incredibly distracting and pretty dangerous. Even if they just started focusing on 1 foot away it'd be quite bad.

These glasses address farsightedness, which doesn't apply while driving. Worst case you just take them off.

Re: IXI's autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses

#33

I'm under 40, recently had cataract surgery to address mild cararacts, and deeply regret that choice. I strongly feel I lost more than I gained, and now need to carry multiple pairs of glasses every time I go out to engage many common activities. Unfortunately I don't have presbyopia at all (my surgery still left me myopic) and my inability to change focus distance is drastically more severe than what happens natural…

Do you mind telling what procedure you got? I know multiple people that had lens replacement surgery for cataracts and are very happy with their vision. But that is just a couple of stories.

Re: IXI's autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses

#34
post #25

I'm under 40, recently had cataract surgery to address mild cararacts, and deeply regret that choice. I strongly feel I lost more than I gained, and now need to carry multiple pairs of glasses every time I go out to engage many common activities. Unfortunately I don't have presbyopia at all (my surgery still left me myopic) and my inability to change focus distance is drastically more severe than what happens natural…

I don't have cataracts, but my prescription is so severe and I'm getting to an age where there's an RX difference between near, medium, and far sight, and I just wanted to commiserate. It is annoying to have to have multiple pairs of glasses, and remember where you put them, and do you have the right ones for this, etc.

I appreciate your commiseration! Thanks for dropping by to share :)

Re: IXI's autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses

#35

I'm under 40, recently had cataract surgery to address mild cararacts, and deeply regret that choice. I strongly feel I lost more than I gained, and now need to carry multiple pairs of glasses every time I go out to engage many common activities. Unfortunately I don't have presbyopia at all (my surgery still left me myopic) and my inability to change focus distance is drastically more severe than what happens natural…

Have you tried using contact lenses to make one eye long focus and one eye short focus ("monovision" in intraopticlens terms)? Then you'd only need at most one middle-distance pair of glasses on hand.

Re: IXI's autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is potential danger with a lens that can suddenly change to a second prescription. For example: imagine you're driving and your whole field of vision suddenly starts flickering in and out of focus. That would be incredibly distracting and pretty dangerous. Even if they just started focusing on 1 foot away it'd be quite bad.

These glasses address farsightedness, which doesn't apply while driving. Worst case you just take them off.

Plenty of us are simultaneously far and near sighted. I can't drive without glasses, but until I got progressive lenses I couldn't use my phone with my glasses on.

Re: IXI's autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses

#37
"Cameraless eye tracking" is understating the key insight here. They don't even need to track which direction you're looking! The only thing they need to measure is the difference between the two directions, and parallax tells them how to focus.

Important to note, of course, that this only works for people with normal binocular vision -- but that's the majority of customers.

Re: IXI's autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses

#38
It's only me or it does not explain how it works?

> the technology [...] can be separated into two parts. First [...]

is the part that tracks eye movements and what they are focusing on.

The second part is never written. There is a hint later on:

> [the] prototype lenses, made up of layers of liquid crystal and a transparent ITO (indium tin oxide) conductive layer. This combination is still incredibly thin, and it was amazing to watch the layers switch almost instantly into a prescription lens

Re: IXI's autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses

#39
>> The team has also refined the nose pieces and glasses arms to accommodate different face shapes. Apparently, when testing expanded from Finland to the UK, British faces were "...different." A little harsh when talking to me, a Brit.

So the finish company's eyeglasses didn't fit a "British" face?

Fun story about this problem. When I was a kid I was a nationally-ranked swimmer. Almost everyone who could wore "Swedish" racing goggles aka swedes. These are very simple and tiny goggles, just a plastic cup that fits on, almost within, your eye socket. Your eyebrow normally sits over the top of the goggle, holding it onto your face. (I could swim slowly without the strap.) They are amazing, by far the best racing goggles out there. No foam to peal. Small enough not to fall off during a dive. And held together with string so you can adjust them perfectly to your face. They were also dirt cheap. But without any soft parts they are unforgiving to the point of racism. If your skull is even a slightly different shape than the Nordic/Viking/Swedish ideal, the goggles will not sit on your eye socket properly. On Asian people they tend to leak unless you tighten them painfully. On many black people they tend to rotate and climb into the eye socket. To nobody's surprise, they have kept the "Swedish" name because, in this case, any racial connotation is very appropriate.

https://malmsten.com/en/products/p/swim-goggles/swedish-gogg... https://alltides.com/products/lunettes-de-natation-swedish-b...

(If you buy these, ditch the stock straps. Nobody uses them because they rot/age very quickly. Use silicon string.)

Re: IXI's autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is potential danger with a lens that can suddenly change to a second prescription. For example: imagine you're driving and your whole field of vision suddenly starts flickering in and out of focus. That would be incredibly distracting and pretty dangerous. Even if they just started focusing on 1 foot away it'd be quite bad.

These glasses address farsightedness, which doesn't apply while driving. Worst case you just take them off.

If they are replacing bifocals, the wearer needs both a near- and far-sighted prescription. Far-sighted only would never need these.

Either failure mode would be dangerous while driving because you need to be able to read your dash.

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