A new game that works with the Oculus Rift headset, called Diplopia, claims to be able to help treat lazy eyes, crossed eyes and people with double vision.
Gaming is often described as many things. For one, it’s known as an entertainment source, something we do when we have free time on our hands. On the other hand it’s called a form of art, seeing players challenge perceptions of worlds in an interactive medium. Sometimes, gaming is also known as a medical treatment. We’ve seen doctors use precision motion control to aid their surgeries in the operating room and we’ve even seen Wii balance boards help those with balance restricting illnesses. Now, a game on the Oculus Rift headset, that allows for wearable, virtual reality gaming, claims to be able to help those with various eyesight problems.
The game is called Diplopia and it claims to help with the following sight problems: lazy eyes (known an amblyopia), crossed eyes (strabismus) and double vision (the titular problem of diplopia). How Diplopia does this is by utilising Oculus Rift’s ability to display different images for each eyes. Sending incomplete images to each eye, Oculus Rift can challenge the eyes to work together, strengthening them in the process. James Blaha, the creator of Diplopia (who also has strabismus) explains that “These strategies have been shown to be up to six-times more effective than the typical treatment, patching, which is often ineffective for children because of how extremely unpleasant it can be.” also saying that “Diplopia will offer a fun, effective, alternative to patching that can keep the attention of a child (or adult) long enough to treat them.”
Diplopia is currently looking for funding on Indiegogo in order to complete development of the game, but having already surpassed that goal it looks like the game could be released on Oculus Rift soon.
Watch a video of Diplopia in action below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=W5tVBfBJr-s
We’ll keep you posted once we know more.
Source: Eurogamer
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