Barbara Selby
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                                          
May 13, 1992
(Phone:  703/557-5609)

Myron Webb
Stennis Space Center, Miss.
(Phone:  601/688-3341)


RELEASE:  92-65

NASA, JOHNS HOPKINS UNVEIL SYSTEM TO HELP VISUALLY IMPAIRED


     A pair of computer-driven glasses, derived from the space 
program, that can help millions of Americans afflicted with 
certain low vision problems, was unveiled today in Baltimore, Md.  
The Low Vision Enhancement Project is a product of NASA's 
Technology Transfer Program in cooperation with NASA's John C. 
Stennis Space Center, Miss., and the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye 
Institute, Baltimore.

     Scientists from Stennis Space Center and the Wilmer Eye 
Institute used NASA technology developed for computer processing 
of satellite images along with head-mounted vision enhancement 
imaging systems originally generated for potential use on Space 
Station Freedom.  This transfer of technology will make it 
possible to improve the visual capability of low-vision patients 
by appropriately enhancing and altering images to compensate for 
the patient's impaired eyesight.

     "This is what we call an enabling technology.  It will have 
an impact far beyond this one application," said Dr. Doug Rickman, 
NASA's Low Vision Project Manager at Stennis Space Center's 
Science and Technology Laboratory.

     It is estimated that more than 3 million Americans today are 
visually handicapped.  By the turn of the century, this number is 
expected to grow as the population ages.  Yet, more than 80 
percent of those who are legally blind retain some vision.  Many 
of these potentially could be helped by this new technology.

     The low vision enhancement system consists of a computer, an 
auxiliary camera and a pair of wrap-around video screens worn like 
eye glasses by the person suffering from a particular visual 
malady.

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     The camera sends the images to a computer-based system.  The 
computer, already programmed to correct for the visual problem of 
the individual, manipulates the images and sends them back to the 
patient.  They are displayed on small video screens which have 
roughly the same field of view as eyeglasses.  "But instead of 
looking through ground glass, you'll be looking through a 
computer," said Rickman.

     One example, Rickman explained, is the brightness of white 
paper with black print, such as in books and magazines, making it 
difficult for some to see properly.  "If the paper was black and 
the print white, they would be able to function much better," he 
said.  "For many years, people have been going to their eye care 
specialists and the physician would say, 'I know what your problem 
is.  I know what's going to happen to you, but there isn't 
anything I can do to help you.'"

     Glasses do not correct this type of problem, but by using a 
computer-driven system, the white of a page and the black of the 
print can be reversed, allowing the patient to visually function 
more normally.

     The low vision enhancement system will provide 
custom-tailored images of the outside world for low vision 
patients.  The system is expected to be used by people who have 
lost their peripheral or side field vision.  This problem is 
associated with glaucoma, an increase of fluid pressure inside the 
eye that damages the optic nerve, and retinitis pigmentosa, a 
progressive degeneration of the retina, the delicate 
light-sensitive nerve layer lining the eye.

     The system also could benefit patients with central vision 
loss, the part of vision normally used for reading.  These 
patients may have macular degeneration associated with aging or 
diabetic retinopathy, in which diabetes causes swelling and 
leakage of fluid in the center of the retina.

     The low vision enhancement system is expected to be available 
to the public in about 18 months and cost about $3,000 - $4,000.  
For information about medical applications, contact the Lions 
Vision Center at 410/614-0992.

     Representatives from the Wilmer Eye Institute, an 
internationally recognized academic ophthalmologic center 
specializing in basic research and clinical care, first met with 
NASA officials in 1985 to see if any technology was available to 
better understand visual performance in low vision and to develop 
improved prosthetic visual devices.  NASA and the Wilmer Eye 
Institute then began developing a laboratory-based, real-time 
image processing system to enhance life for low vision sufferers.

     Stennis Space Center developed the low vision enhancement 
system design and the computer software.  Stennis manages NASA's 
portion of the Low Vision Enhancement Project for the Office of 
Commercial Programs' Technology Transfer Program, which seeks to 
broaden and accelerate technology transfer in the public interest.

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