Development of a low-cost, portable autorefractor for the measuring of refractive errors in low-resource settings

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant andquot Development of a low cost extended range autorefractorandquot This project proposal seeks to develop technologies that will lower the cost of and increase the accessibility of refractive eye care especially in low resoure settings We propose to advance our previously developed low cost handheld device capable of automatically measuring the optical properties of the eye based on the technique of wavefront aberrometry The proposed work will specifically focus on the development of optical and software systems will extend the deviceandapos s measurement range to work on a larger range of refractive errors First optical systems with no moving parts will be developed which enable the device to work on subjects with severe myopia or hyperopia andlt diopters or andgt diopters of refractive error Second algorithms that make the device easy and intuitive to use will be implemented Third a handheld prototype incorporating these improvements will be constructed and validated in model eye systems The output of this project will be a functional extended range prototype that will facilitate the fild testing and commercialization of a low cost easy to use device to dispense eyeglass prescriptions PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE andquot Development of a low cost extended range autorefractorandquot This project proposal seeks to develop technologies that will lower the cost and increase the accessibility of refractive eye care especially in low resource settings Specifically optical and software systems will be developed that will extend the measurement range of a low cost device that automatically prescribes eyeglasses for patients with a large range of refractive errors