I recently found out about the rare Visual Snow syndrome, and I immediately became interested in it.
The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) describes the Visual Snow Syndrome as a "neurological disorder characterized by a continuous visual disturbance that occupies the entire visual field and is described as tiny flickering dots that resemble the noise of a detuned analogue television". You can read the full scientific article on the NORD website, the shorter article on Wikipedia, or have a look at this explanatory image.
The Odd Detail
Once I understood more about the syndrome, a detail of this story caught my attention: although people affected by Visual Snow experience its visual symptoms ceaselessly, even with eyes shut, very many confirm that watching this video of static noise temporarily "freezes" their symptoms and gives them a sensation of relief. Under the video, you can read thousands of comments confirming its effectiveness.
Several organisations, among which is the Visual Snow Initiative, are researching the effects of static images on people affected by Visual Snow. However, research is still limited and we need to stay tuned to get a definitive answer.
Some people have documented how watching these images for prolonged sessions has improved their VS symptoms (see forum post). However, sitting in front of a screen for hours staring at a static video is not fun, and it requires time. But what if you could get the potential benefits of the static while carrying out your daily activities on your computer?
The Idea
Users started experimenting and created static noise overlays, although these all had problems of compatibility, difficulty of use, or large size (see #1 and #2 for more).
At this point, I decided to get involved and to use my skills to help the community, since the solution seemed extremely close. All that was needed was to implement the idea and gather feedback.
As a result, I created Visual Snow Relief Overlay, an open-source, cross-platform app that works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. The overlay sits on your screen and lets you interact with anything underneath it, so you can e.g. keep browsing while you use it. You can set the opacity and choose from several static noise textures, so you can experiment which gives the best result.
The project can be found at https://github.com/belvederef/visual-snow-relief-overlay/. If you want to give it a go, head to the "download" section and get the right version for your system.
Here is a screenshot of one of the filter types in action.
Update
Visual Snow Relief Overlay goes mobile! Read the full article.
The Response
Since the original post made on the Reddit, I have received overwhelming feedback. Many affirm that using the overlay helps them focus when reading, and reduces eye strain and migraine symptoms!
The idea seems to be working amazingly, and I am planning to release a mobile version soon.
Contribute
We can all contribute to the research! I need all the feedback you can give to document the effects of the app and improve it, as well as understanding if it provides benefits in the long run.
Moreover, I set up a link for donations. As any project, anything I create incurs some costs, that I am mostly covering on my own. Any contribution sustains my work and allows me to improve and develop more tools for the Visual Snow community.
You can also:
- Join the Visual Snow Initiative Project, which is researching the use of static images to treat Visual Snow. On their general organisation page they also offer more resources related to VS.
- Join clinical trials on the ClinicalTrials.gov Visual Snow Syndrome page.
- Follow the Eye on Vision foundation, where research groups are formed.