The Healthe-Corning partnership would embed Eyesafe technology, which selectively filters UV and high-energy visible blue light, into screen covers made with Corning’s Accessory Glass 2. [Image: Healthe]
Healthe, vendor of “Eyesafe” screen cover technology based in Minneapolis, Minn., USA, and the global glass, materials and optics company Corning have announced a partnership to develop and market mobile-device screen covers that integrate Healthe’s technology with Corning’s Accessory Glass 2 screen protector material. The two vendors hope the combination will log gains in the market through the combination of the Corning material’s “scratch resistance, reduced scratch visibility and better drop performance” and the desire to address some consumer health concerns regarding light from digital devices.
Attacking “computer vision syndrome”
The business case for Eyesafe stems from a number of recent studies that have alleged harmful effects of digital blue light especially from mobile devices, which have become ubiquitous in modern times. Those hazards include “computer vision syndrome”—a current buzzword encompassing a range of eyestrain, headache, dry-eye and other problems that have emerged as office technology has become increasingly screen-based. They also include, in particular, well-established disruption of sleep cycles and circadian rhythms tied to use of blue-light-emitting devices, especially before bedtime. Some evidence suggests, according to Healthe, that children’s eyes absorb more blue light from these screens than adult eyes do.
Healthe’s Eyesafe products center around a “proprietary emission-reducing film” that includes polymers and light-absorbing dyes that, the company claims, “normalize the light transmission across the light spectrum” and “makes artificial digital light more like natural light.” The company has even trademarked a “retina protection factor” (RPF)—analogous to the well-known sun-protection factor (SPF) used in sunscreens—that segments products by a score based on the percentage of high-energy visible (HEV) blue light the product filters out.
Other collaborations ahead
In a press release, Healthe’s CEO, Justin Barrett, said the partnership with Corning has allowed the pair to develop “a best-in-class light filtering technology which offers protection from high-energy visible blue light and provides the benefits of Corning’s superior glass for device protection.” Barrett added that “future collaboration announcements will be announced with international brands over the coming months.”