Google Glass could be a potential driving hazard
According to a new study, using Google Glass could partially hinder peripheral vision which could in turn cause blind spots. This may result into hindrances in daily important activities like driving and become a potential safety hazard. The peripheral visual field is one of the primary components of vision and is very crucial for many basic and needful day to day activities such as sports, road safety and driving.
Researchers in the study said that while the conventional specs frames can potentially reduce the normal visual fields which might even sometime cause absolute blind spots, head mounted devices come with even more prominent frames which can hinder the visionary fields even further. Tsontcho Ianchulev from the University of California San Francisco and co-researchers compared the performance on a visual field test on many volunteers, some of them were tested with a head mounted device such as Google Glass, while the other volunteers were tested with conventional regular eyewear to understand their effect on the people’s visual function.
According to the test results, in three healthy people with a perfect 20/20 vision, were tested for the best-corrected visual perception and normal visual fields were back in the month of April 2014. The volunteers were tested with a wearable head-mounted device as the Google Glass, Google Inc. and were tested by following proper manufacturer’s instructions, which is 60 minute acclimation period.
The perimetric visual tests which is a measuring method of the field of vision was first done with the head mounted wearable device which is followed by a regular control frame that regular eyewear along with similar colour as well as temple width.
Moreover, in order to assess both the devices effect on the visual field of a person, the researchers also took note of the various pictures of the various devices and the different kind of wearable devices worn by the consumers that are gathered from the internet. People wearing the devices and facing the cameras were also studied. The various gathered photographs were also analyzed for the prism position which is relative to the eye pupil.
As per the results of these various tests on visual field, significant blind spots were detected after wearing in all three volunteers who had perfect eyesight. This surely shows that the device has caused the visual field obstruction in the participants. The visual defects were clearly induced by the Google Glass, but it was caused only by the device’s frame hardware design and is not related to the software interferences.
On the other hand, the study based on the images showed that various people who wear the device close to their pupil axis may also induce blind spots and visual interfere in daily functions. The results of study are however still limited to only a small group of participants, which might not be enough to prove the absolute results on the effects of the Google Glass on the people’s visual fields causing enough hazards when road safety or driving are concerned.
Source : – Economictimes