Google Glass Messes With Your Peripheral Vision

Small study finds obstruction in the user's upper right quadrant
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 5, 2014 6:09 AM CST
Google Glass Messes With Your Peripheral Vision
Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor wears Google Glass as he talks with reporters after arriving for NFL football training camp at the team training facility in Latrobe, Pa., on July 25, 2014.   (AP Photo)

Ever wonder if the small computer monitor on the top right of Google Glass gets in the way of a user's vision? An ophthalmologist at UC San Francisco almost got in a car accident when he didn't see a car coming from the right, and he decided to investigate. In a tiny study with just three participants that he admits needs to be followed up with larger studies, Dr. Tsontcho Ianchulev found that all three had "significant" blind spots in the upper right of their peripheral vision attributable to the frame itself, since the device was turned off and software was not running, reports the Journal of the American Medical Association, where the study appears.

The Glass quick-start guide states that the display should be positioned above, not in front of, one's eye. But Ianchulev also found that in 30% of the online images of Glass users his team surveyed, the screen area was positioned in front of the right eye's pupil, likely interfering with vision. "This is a small study, we just wanted to make people aware," Ianchulev tells Reuters. "There are thousands of these gadgets out there and people are biking, Rollerblading, driving a car." But a Google spokesperson fires back with a statement to Reuters that reads in part: "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." (Earlier this fall the first case of Google Glass addiction was reported.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X