John Hopton for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have found that wearing Google Glass eyewear causes a significant restriction to peripheral vision. The news that sight restrictions can be caused by wearing something over your eyes may not come as a surprise to many people, but could be a blow to Google as they watch related legislation being debated in various US states and countries across the world.
The study, published in the Nov. 5 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), had three participants with healthy eyesight use Google Glass and then normal spectacles of similar color and temple width for comparison. The researchers found that with Google Glass, blind spots were present in the upper right corner of the vision field, also known as the “superior-temporal quadrant,” which is the area where the camera and display sits. The normal glasses had very little impact on vision.
The participants wore Google Glass in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions for a 60-minute acclimation period before their vision was assessed. 132 online photos of people wearing Google Glass were also analyzed to assess how the device normally sits on someone’s face.
According to the researchers led by Dr. Tsontcho Ianchulev, “Visual field testing demonstrated significant scotomas (blind spots) in all 3 participants while wearing the device, creating a clinically meaningful visual field obstruction in the upper right quadrant. Defects were induced by the Google Glass frame hardware design only and were not related to a distracting effect of software-related interference.”
The findings add to concerns about how a reduction in users’ visual function could impact daily activities such as playing sports, riding bicycles or crossing the street. But the area of greatest concern is driving, and the findings coincide with a recent study from the University of Central Florida (UCF) in cooperation with the Air Force Research Laboratory, which found that wearing Google’s headpiece was a distraction to drivers.
Image Above: In this image, Ben Sawyer models Google Glass. Credit: University of Central Florida
“Texting with either a smartphone or Glass will cause distraction and should be avoided while driving,” UCF researcher Ben Sawyer said in a recent statement. However, he added that, “Glass did help drivers in our study recover more quickly than those texting on a smartphone. We hope that Glass points the way to technology that can help deliver information with minimal risk.”
The National Safety Council advises that cell phone use is implicated in 1.6 million crashes each year in the US. The UCSF study did not compare the distracting impact of Google Glass with other devices, or balance overall the benefits of using the technology against the reduced vision findings. They also admitted that more work is needed to add to what was quite a small study.
“Additional studies are needed to understand the effects of these devices on visual function, particularly as their use becomes increasingly common,” the authors concluded.
Many US states are currently considering what legislation to apply to head-mounted technology such as Google Glass, and there is concern that the impact of wearing Google Glass on driving could be even greater in the UK, because cars are driven on the left.
Dr. Edward Koo, a clinical ophthalmologist at UCSF, told The Telegraph’s Sarah Knapton that, “The superior-temporal quadrant is particularly important in driving as the location of the rear-view mirror as well as the right-side mirror in all US cars is monitored by the right visual field. Motion detected in these mirrors by a normal peripheral visual field is what frequently alerts a driver to possible dangerous situations,” adding that, “In the UK, where the driving position is reversed, the potential blockage of right peripheral vision for on-coming traffic may be even more of a public safety hazard.”
A Google spokesman responded to concerns, saying, “Put on your favorite shades, glasses, baseball hat, or hoodie, and you’ll quickly see that this study tells us what we already know; wearing something on your face or head may affect your peripheral vision. From the beginning, the Glass team has worked closely with a range of experts to develop a device that is safe for use, and after extensive study they have not found any safety issues when it’s used correctly.”
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