Say goodbye to traditional bifocals, welcome electronic spectacles

Traditional bifocals may soon become passé with the invention of electronic glasses that automatically adjust and enable the user to view objects at different distances.

By pressing a button on the side of the frames, the glasses can be adjusted manually to view objects at diverse distances.

The spectacles, which would be launched in the US this year and the UK next year, have been developed by US firm PixelOptics.

"Unlike traditional bifocals, which only allow the wearer to focus "near" or "far", the electronic lenses have a range of in-between settings. We have been developing these glasses for the past 10 years," the Telegraph quoted Peter Zieman, director of European sales for PixelOptics as saying.

"Liquid crystals can change their refractive index when an electrical charge is put through them, so wearers can switch between distance and reading in the time it takes to blink.

"Putting in the kind of motion sensors that are used in the iPhone also allows the glasses to sense when someone is reading a book or a newspaper and so change the focal distance of the lenses automatically.

"Our glasses bring modern technology to an old solution," he added.