In their words
“I can now use the many modes to view everything I would have missed before. I can see the knobs and buttons, contrast, all of it!”
Before IrisVision
Brian Hurley is a musician and music studio owner from Denver, Colorado. He was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa at the age of thirteen. As the years went by his vision gradually became worse. At 33 he lost a large portion of his sight in what he considered, at the time, his “best eye,” due to a cataract that quickly developed within two months. “One day I had noticed that things seemed a little hazy in that eye, then two months later I couldn’t see much at all from that eye.” Although he underwent surgery to remove the cataract his vision dramatically decreased. Brian plays many instruments. Due to his lack of vision, he has enhanced his ability to feel what he is playing rather than see the strings he is plucking on his guitar or the keys he is striking on his piano. Though when it came to one of his favorite instruments, the synthesizer, he had no choice but to eliminate it from his repertoire of talents. The synthesizer contains tiny nobs and buttons that were hard for him to detect. At the same time his inability to detect the contrast of their colors made it even more of a daunting task. That is, until he was introduced to IrisVision.
After IrisVision
If I’m looking at an instrument I haven’t used before I can use it to familiarize myself with it’s details and build up my knowledge of how to play it.”
Today, Brian uses most of his rehearsal time with his IrisVision though would like to one day perform with it on stage too.
Link to news story/video coverage: https://kdvr.com/2019/11/07/blind-musician-gains-sight-with-new-technology/
