Contacts:
Sarah Goodwin

Kathi Ovnic
Holly Korschun
August 9, 1999
LOW VISION DEVICES FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Emory Eye Center's Low Vision Clinic has the most advanced low vision assisting devices available for individuals with limited vision due to macular degeneration, stroke, glaucoma, cataract or other blinding disease. The Clinic's specialists are committed to helping each patient meet his or her visual goals, keeping in mind lifestyle and--because most low vision devices are not covered by insurance--budget.

The Jordy is those of the most exciting digital viewing system offered at Emory. Users can wear Jordy like a pair of ultra high-tech glasses or place the system on a viewing stand for reading. It can magnify images up to 25 times for distance viewing and 60 times for close-up viewing. Portable (the battery lasts up to two hours on a charge) and light (it weighs only 9 ounces), this system is self-focusing and provides a clear color image. It can be worn anywhere to help visually impaired individuals read, write, work at a computer or recognize faces; it is not designed for driving, however.

Another exciting system is the MaxPort, which can enlarge images from 16 to 28 times normal size, depending on the distance of the object being viewed.The magnifier, which is worn like a standard pair of glasses, is self-focusing and provides a high-contrast digital image in black-and-white. It is light and portable (the battery lasts two to three hours) and can be worn at home to read or pay bills, to the grocery store or at a friend's house.

Max is an electronic magnifier that looks like a computer mouse. Max has a tiny camera inside that projects magnified images onto a TV screen. Patients can use it on flat or curved surfaces, such as books and medication labels. The user can also attach Max to the Jordy to dramatically increase image size.

The Ocutech autofocus telescope, which fits onto a standard pair of glasses, is very light and portable and works like a self-focusing camera, only more precisely. It magnifies distant images to four times normal size, and for close-range objects, magnifies to five times normal size.

 

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