We describe and demonstrate a pair of diopter-adjustable eyeglasses aimed to correct presbyopia; the glasses provide a tunable optical power in the whole surface of the lens cell, eliminating the optical distortion typical of bifocal/trifocal or progressive glasses. The wearer can actively control the optical power by a simple sliding gesture on the bridge of the glasses, so that presbyopic vision can be interactively corrected. Results from a preliminary experiment showed that a presbyopia sufferer could clearly observe near and far objects under the assistant accommodation of the glasses. Designing a truly wearable system poses some challenges – none of them theoretical – so the system should be feasible in the near future.

Date Published: 12 September 2014
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9193, Novel Optical Systems Design and Optimization XVII, 91931G (12 September 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2061659

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9193:
Novel Optical Systems Design and Optimization XVII
G. Groot Gregory; Arthur J. Davis, Editor(s)