(http://www.PreserveMacForte.com) When it comes to assisting people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to read, it turns out that… there really is an app for that.
Researchers in the United Kingdom have created software that transforms electronic books into a format that allows people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to read, reported UPI.com recently.
According to the article, Royal Holloway University London researchers explained that converting electronic books into a solitary line of scrolling text can enable people living with AMD, an eye condition that can lead to blindness, to once again enjoy reading. The article, which cited a report from The Daily Telegraph, added that AMD is a leading cause of vision impairment.
The MD_evReader application, designed for the iPad tablet PC, produces text that scrolls across the screen in big letters that are brightly colored. Psychologist Robin Walker explained in the article that many volunteers who have helped to test the application have said that they were better able to read with the app than they were without it.
According to the article, AMD adversely impacts the sight in sufferers’ central field of vision, which essentially renders it difficult, if not impossible, to comprehend substantial chunks of words on pages. The researchers, noted the article, came up with a way to get around this difficulty by enabling AMD patients to read by employing their peripheral vision instead.
Walker was cited in the article as saying that “scrolling text across a screen” facilitates the capacity to view “it in the peripheral vision,” which means that those with AMD can “more easily” read. Walker explained that researchers have created a tool that changes electronic documents employed to make “electronic books into this formal automatically.”
Various reports have noted that people with AMD tend to have difficulty not only with reading, but also with driving, watching television, and even recognizing the faces of family, friends and colleagues.
While there is presently no cure for AMD, there are treatments that can half the progression of the eye condition and, in some case, even restore some vision lost to the disease. A proper diet that includes lots of leafy green produce can help people to protect their eyes.