VOY may have solved the problem of prescription lenses in public settings

Yesterday here in Silicon Valley I was amazed to find out a new product that may have solved one of the biggest problems of public VR demos. I was introduced to it by George Zao, CEO of VOY Glasses, who introduced me adjustable prescription lenses.

The issue of prescription lenses

Wearing glasses inside a VR headset is never comfortable: got better over the years (the Meta Quest ships with glass spacers to improve your comfort when wearing glasses), but it’s never been an enjoyable experience. Fortunately there are companies that offer prescription lenses for XR headphones: these products are inserts that you attach over the lenses of your headphones and that contain a lens that is able to adjust the visuals to the parameters of your eyes. They are usually quite good, but they have the problem that they are tailored to your eye prescriptions. If you’re buying them for a headphone that you just use yourself, then they’re amazing, but they are a bit more problematic for headphones running on shared settings.

If the VR headset is shared by everyone in a family, for example, you have to keep changing the recipe entries depending on who is using the device, which is a mess. In enterprise settings, you have the same problem if multiple people need to use the same headset for training. When you do public demonstrations, “Can I wear my glasses?” is a typical question you hear from people trying out your experience at trade shows. Carrying around a suitcase full of prescription lenses and fitting them (and disinfecting them…) for every person who comes to your booth will take a lot of time. So usually during public demonstrations, companies never use prescription lenses and allow people to wear their glasses inside the headset, for a sub-optimal experience.

Tunable VOY Goggle Inserts

VOY Glasses is able to solve this problem with a prescription lens to fix them all: it’s an insert that you put on the lens of your headphones, just like all the others currently on the market, but with a slider that lets you choose your recipe. This means that you only need to install two “tunable” prescription lenses, one for each eye, and then each person using the headphones only needs to choose what are their recommended values ​​to use the device with maximum comfort.

The slider is mechanical and has a range of 6 prescription values. Mr. Zhao told me that there are currently two versions of the lens: from 0 to -6 (for myopia only) and from -3 to +3 (to cover myopia and presbyopia). He said that with the range of myopia, lenses can cover 80% of the population with this impairment. The slider through which you change the optical parameters offers continuous prescription value: so if you set it between -2 and -3, it will have -2.5 as the prescription value.

I was surprised how this idea seemed so simple but at the same time so useful. Thanks to this tool, it is possible to make VR demos in a much more effective way: you just need to ask your visitor what their eye parameters are, set them in motion with a slider, and then put the headphones on your head. And for hygiene, you just need to clean the same prescription lenses. It is literally amazing.

How does it work?

Mr. Zhao was able to create this device because he is an optical expert with many years of experience. He realized that we’ve been using the same lens form factor for many years, and he wanted to innovate that.

He used an optical principle independently developed by Luis Alvarez and Adolph Lohmann which says that if you create two parallel lenses with a particular form factor (the surface looks a bit like a sea wave), the compound of the two lenses will be like a lens with different parameters depending on the relative position of the lenses. This means: if you slide one of the two lenses, the “resultant lens” of the entire optical system will change its focal length.

George told me that he started from this principle and had invented on it, creating a patented technology that he uses in his lenses. But the basic principle is the same: there’s a lens that’s fixed inside the frame, and then there’s another lens that moves as you move the slider. When the movable lens moves, it changes the focus of the optical system, will correct different recipe values.

He also told me that creating such a system is not easy and it requires special machines with nanometric precision. Without this precision, the lens system will not have the quality needed to provide the user with excellent viewing quality.

The present and the future

VOY glasses inserts are currently available for some headsets from Meta and Lenovo. The company is also considering creating accessories for other accessories, such as the Apple Vision Pro.

Everyone can buy these tools, and the company is evaluating both consumer and enterprise use cases. Regarding the enterprise, VOY aims to cooperate with distributors who can take care of all the necessary services (eg customer assistance, fast replacement, etc…) that are usually offered in the B2B sector. VOY just wants to keep doing what it’s good at (which is creating optical systems) and I leave the rest to companies that specialize in it.

Regarding some possible future predictions, I think it would be nice if one day such a lens will be connected to the device’s eye-tracking system. If eye tracking cameras are able to automatically detect what the user’s eye prescription is more or less, the headset can automatically set the IPD and eye prescription values ​​during the eye calibration procedure. I don’t know when something like this would be possible, but it could greatly improve the usability of the XR headphones in public settings.

Cost and availability

The VOY Goggles are currently available on its website: those for the Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3 cost $59, while the set for the Lenovo ThindReality VRX is priced at $69.

Hands on

Played around a bit with my VOY Glasses and Quest 3 inserts and so I I can express my first impressions about them.

The configuration is quite simple, you just have to align the shape of the insert with the shape of the headphone lens, and then press the insert until it clicks. The first time I did it, I had some trouble figuring out what the correct alignment was, but after doing it the first time, I was able to do it other times without too much trouble. Once attached, they are quite durable: I tried taking the headphones on and off 10 times in a row, causing the earbuds to hit my forehead as well, but they wouldn’t come off. This is good.

Detaching them on purpose is rather easy: you have to pull the device by gently twisting it and it will detach without any problem.

The lens seemed well made and the slider worked smoothly. However, I’m a little worried about what happens if you move the slider hundreds of times a day, like during a typical exhibition day, because I’m afraid it might loosen up a bit. I moved it a few dozen times and it’s still stiff, so there’s some resistance, but to test its quality it should be tested in a real exposure scenario.

The lenses are transparent and have some green reflections, so they also filter out some blue radiation, I guess. I thought that depending on the position of my eye in relation to the lens, the optical parameters would change, but this is not the case. Once the two lenses are in a certain position, they create an optical system that is like a single lens, it is not that depending on where you place your eye you have a different focal distance. I don’t have eye damage, so I can’t judge the correction of optical parameters, but I can still appreciate how they work in the “0” position.

Installing them on my Quest, I saw it more or less the optical parameters seem unchanged at first glance: The FOV and screen clarity look the same with or without the insert. But on deeper analysis, I noticed two small issues: first of all, they create a slight distortion in the peripheral vision, so when you turn your head, you slightly notice that something is being deformed. It’s not a huge effect and doesn’t spoil the overall experience, but it’s noticeable. Secondly, clarity in the periphery of vision is also slightly degraded: I tried reading some text on my right side with and without the lens, and with the prescription, it was a little blurrier. Again, this isn’t a major issue, but it’s worth reporting.

There is also a small problem with comfort. These lens systems are a bit thick and when you wear them, you can feel their border near the eye and brow bones. George told me to avoid this you must wear the earpiece glasses spacer (it’s even written in the installation instructions), but I don’t have it with me so I can’t test this. This is a problem with other prescription VR lenses, but these are a little thicker because they have to have two lenses, so the comfort is a little worse than others I’ve tried.

Final impressions

I have been pleasantly surprised by VOY Glasses prescription lenses: they are able to provide a very convenient solution to guarantee a better experience for VR users in environments where many people use the same headset, such as within company training programs or VR exhibitions. The product is useful, solid and has an affordable price. There are a few minor issues, but for me, they don’t detract from the overall VR experience, especially considering the short time of a demo at an event. I think this device is something that adds value to our ecosystem.

If you’re going to be at AWE, you need to know this VOY will have a booth there, so you will be able to try this product with your own eyes. I suggest you try it because it is a very interesting gadget.

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