"A visor that allows legally blind people to see is no longer Star Trek fiction," said Geoffrey Fowler at The Wall Street Journal. The eSight 3 headset uses augmented-reality technology to help people with severely limited vision see the world in detail.
A high-speed, high-definition camera inside the lightweight visor captures the wearer's surroundings. Those images are displayed on screens "that sit very close to the eyes." Using a handheld remote, wearers can dial up the contrast, zoom in and out, or pan across objects such as street signs.
ESight, which has sold about 1,000 visors to date, says the technology "has worked for about three-quarters of people who have tried it." The biggest hurdle is the device's $10,000 price tag. "While the device has FDA clearance as a Class I medical device, most insurance doesn't cover it."
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