SideSight will allow individuals who have experienced loss of side vision (Hemianopia) to walk safely without concerns of bumping into obstacles or being startled by individuals walking into their path. The device is scheduled to start clinical testing in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Ocutech says it is estimated that there are between 500,000 and 1 million individuals in the US who have a one-sided loss of their vision, called Homonymous Hemianopia (HH) (also called Homonymous Hemianopsia). While HH is most frequently a result of stroke, it can also come from a range of other causes amongst them head trauma, brain tumours and developmental disorders.

HH is not the same as loss of vision in one eye, as individuals with no vision in one eye can still see to both sides of their line of sight with their remaining eye. Not so with HH. In Homonymous Hemianopia, depending upon which half of the brain is impaired, neither eye will have vision to the affected side.

If the right brain is involved, the vision loss is on the left side, and if the left brain is affected the right visual field will be lost. HH can have a more profound impact on visual functioning, mobility and independence than does loss of one eye.