Even though the incredibly advanced technological work they do on a daily basis has literally been changing the lives of disabled people for nearly three decades now, the Fairfax, Va.-based LC Technologies, Inc. is not the sort of tech firm most digital natives are intimately familiar with.
The company doesn’t build addictive mobile apps or social media platforms, and neither their president nor their software engineer is regularly praised in the pages of the popular business press.
But thanks to a recent collaboration between the company and NuShield, LC Technologies may soon find itself receiving the sort of positive accolades its important work has long warranted.
With NuShield’s film installed, the tablet’s glare is completely removed, allowing the eye-tracking software to work as it was intended.So, what exactly does LC Technologies do? The science behind their work, perhaps not surprisingly, is rather complicated. But explaining the work they produce and the effect is has on the patients who use it is fairly simple.
To put it plainly, LC Technologies develops eye-tracking software, which is exactly what it sounds like: computer software that tracks the eye movements of its users. It makes the process of communication and computer usage—crucial activities that the vast majority of us take for granted—a reality for disabled patients who can’t communicate through speech, or even through hand motions.
For the most part, the patients who take advantage of LC Technologies’ software, which is known as Eyegaze Edge, suffer from brain injury, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, and brainstem and spinal cord injuries. Some even suffer from spinal muscular atrophy and ALS, which is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The eye-tracking software, which is based on a video camera that observes eye movement and produces digitized, high-resolution images literally provides a lifeline for these patients, who would otherwise have very few options—if any at all—in terms of communicating with friends, family members and caregivers.
And so when tablet computers came into popular use, eye-tracking technologists were initially thrilled: Here was a light and completely mobile computing solution that users of eye-tracking software could take with them anywhere. But as is often the case when new computing hardware is introduced, there was a problem: LC Technologies had to retrofit the tablets with bulky and costly LCD monitors to prevent glare, which disrupts proper eye-tracking function.
LC Technologies’ Medical Director, Nancy Cleveland, introduces an Eyegaze Edge patient to the company’s NuShield-fitted tablets.Thankfully, a solution was recently discovered in the form of NuShield, a company based in Southeastern Pennsylvania that has been known for more than 15 years as the nation’s leading manufacturer and distributor of screen protectors, screen protector kits, and touch screen overlays for electronic equipment.
Once LC Technologies reached out to NuShield regarding the glare problems their clients were experiencing with tablet screens, they were pleasantly surprised to discover just how simple—and just how affordable—the solution was.
That solution was NuShield’s popular Triple A film, which offers anti-fingerprint and anti-microbial protection. And as a result of the Triple A’s anti-glare properties, LC Technologies’ tablets no longer need to be retrofitted with bulky LCD monitors, and users of the company’s eye-tracking software can now operate the system comfortably, regardless of where they happen to travel outside their homes.
Thanks to NuShield’s revolutionary Triple A film, LC Technologies can now load its software onto numerous platforms, including Asus and Microsoft tablets, which weigh just a few pounds. In the process, both LC Technologies and NuShield are better empowering people with disabilities to communicate and interact with the world, no matter where in the world they are.
If you’d like to learn how NuShield’s screen protection films can help your company, reach out to us by phone or email. NuShield films are also used in standard consumer applications around the world, every day. Take a look at some of our previous blog posts to learn how NuShield films are improving the lives of everyone from deejays to gym rats.