The OXSIGHT Onyx: A Powerful Tool for Maximising Eyesight

On 24th January we will be holding an open day at Bradbury Lodge for anyone who would like to try the OXSIGHT Onyx glasses.

The OXSIGHT Onyx are a set of glasses that enhance your remaining vision. They allow you to zoom into an image, making it clearer and bigger. Using the latest AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology, the onboard computer can simultaneously process the image and can allow you to read, recognise faces, watch television, play games, along with many other daily tasks.

The Onyx are designed specifically for people with Central Vision Loss. They can work for people with a wide range of conditions such as: Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Stargardt, or Macular Dystrophy.

How do OXSIGHT Onyx Work?

The smart glasses work by capturing an image with the inbuilt camera, processing, and then enhancing it by using the onboard computer and displaying it on bright, colour-rich OLED screens within the smart glasses. The image then becomes visible to the part of the eye with suitable remaining vision.

Key Features

The main features include: powerful 8x magnification, high contrast filters to enhance images, automatic night mode, object detection, face recognition with tracking and auto zoom, a screen watching mode, a 70 degree field of view, a simple and easily customisable interface, a battery life that provides 90 minutes of continual use, and fast charging (it takes approximately 1 hour to reach full battery).

About OXSIGHT

OXSIGHT is led by a group of scientists aiming to solve visual impairment setbacks. In 2010, the company’s founding members began their research at the University of Oxford. Their work soon received international recognition and they were invited to share their research around the world. They built on their research at the university which eventually led to the establishment of OXSIGHT in 2016 with the goal of developing innovative science-driven solutions for visual impairment setbacks that balance functionality, and intuitive technology.

How well do they work?

According to trials done by OXSIGHT focusing on the Onyx’s ability to help with reading, face recognition, and object recognition:

• 86% of users said that their reading ability significantly improved.
• 78% of users had improved object identification and could identify many more details in an image.
• 77% of users could recognise faces and facial expressions better.

Nathan Tree, our Client Advice Officer, and England blind hockey player started losing his vision when he was 18, after he was diagnosed with Cone Rod Dystrophy. After trying the Onyx glasses, he said, “I saw my mum’s face for the first time in five years and I made a joke about how much she’d aged, which didn’t go down well.”

Nathan said that “putting them on was an amazing experience. I could see a lot more detail. Wearing the glasses, I could read infinitely faster. I could read the ingredients on food packets too, and they’re really helpful to read a menu.”
“It’s the small things that people often take for granted that will be improved by these glasses. I can’t enjoy a visit to an art gallery or a museum unless it’s a touch tour. They don’t let you touch the Mona Lisa though, so it’s having cultural things return that will have the biggest impact for me.”

Michael Crossland is a Specialist Optometrist in Low Vision and UCL Hon. Senior Research Associate at the Moorfield Eye Hospital. He said that he is “very excited about the OXSIGHT Onyx low vision device. Assistive technology is already helping many of [his] patients with moderate to severe visual impairment, but current devices are limited by their weight, cosmetic appearance, non-intuitive controls, and lack of versatility.”

“The OXSIGHT Onyx device has addressed many of these concerns. OXSIGHT Onyx has clearly been designed with the needs of people with visual impairment in mind,” said Dr Crossland.