LineSight

HackTheU Project - 2018. Chrome extension that aids in lazy eye therapy.

Amblyopia (Lazy-Eye) occurs during early development, usually caused by a defect in one of the eyes. Over time, the brain suppresses its visual information, prioritizing input from the good eye. Without therapy, the worse eye’s visual acuity persistently deteriorates to a certain point or, in some cases, goes completely blind. When the original defect is rectified, the brain accepts information from the lazy eye. This relies on the brain's ability to retrain itself (Neuroplasticity), which is much greater in children. Recent studies have found that although adult brains don’t retain the same levels of neuroplasticity as children, they do still have the ability to retrain using binocular training techniques and that visual acuity may improve. The basis of the binocular training technique is using the eyes collaboratively together instead of training one or the other (e.g. monocular – patching). Improving binocular vision ultimately improves the lazy eye. Both adults and children suffering from amblyopia can greatly benefit from a binocular vision therapy application. After unsatisfactory experiences with similar applications, I am driven to improve their flaws by building a well functioning and customizable application. LineSight is an extension downloadable from the Chrome Web Store. It is designed to be used in conjunction with 3D Anaglyph or medical grade red-green glasses. When enabled, users can select between a red-green bar training layout and an alternating colored-text layout. These layouts train binocular vision. 3D Anaglyph and red-green glasses have different colored lenses over each eye. This allows an eye to read red or greed, or red or blue text, but not both. Currently, the project is compatible with Wikipedia, Medium, New York Times, Kindle, Reddit, and Stack Overflow. The extension is compatible with more websites, but these websites were mainly used to test.