Smartphone app Guides Night Blindness Sufferers

The application is geo-aware, knowing the time of sunset around the world, as well as having access to online mapping software, which can offer the potentially vulnerable user with shortcuts back to their base. The app also has an added benefit of being able to locate nearby hotels, should the user need to reach one before darkness falls. The study describing the new app was published in the July 2013 issue of the International Journal Mobile Learning and Organization.

“Night blindness afflicts millions and may be present at birth as a genetic disease, arise in childhood through malnutrition or injury, or be a symptom of numerous eye diseases,” said lead author Kamran Ahsan, PhD. “Sufferers find it difficult or impossible to see in low-light conditions and so can be very much at-risk if darkness falls while they are in a strange city or even in their home town. Of course, many people with nyctalopia never venture from their home environment because of their disability.”

The most common cause of nyctalopia is retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disorder in which the rod cells in the retina gradually lose their ability to respond to the light. Patients suffering from this condition have progressive nyctalopia, and eventually their daytime vision may also be affected. Other causes include X-linked congenital stationary night blindness, in which the rod cells either do not work at all, or work very little, and night blindness caused by a deficiency of retinol (vitamin A), found in fish oils, liver, and dairy products.

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