SBIR Phase I: Novel Vision Screening Digital Platform for Preverbal Children

SBIR 第一阶段：针对学龄前儿童的新型视力筛查数字平台

• 批准号: 1746353
• 负责人: Beth DeSouza
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: Vifant LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1746353&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Novel; Vision; Screening

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to enable early mass vision screening of preverbal children by primary care physicians as a result of the development of a reliable, rapid, mobile and affordable vision screening tool. That tool will allow the integration of early vision screening during the well baby care visits. Early childhood vision problems are a major public health issue, affecting 3-5% of infants in the US alone. The vision screening tools currently available for young children are only indirect measures of vision, have limited sensitivity, are not quantitative, too complex and, time-consuming to allow all children to benefit. Early detection and treatment of vision impairments improve vision treatment outcomes and prevents early learning development deficits. This SBIR project will increase access to vision screening at an earlier age, resulting in improved treatment and visual outcomes, allow screening in more situations and locations, and result in a commercially viable, clinically reliable measure of visual function in young children. The proposed project will enhance the vision screening digital platform for preverbal children and validate testing performance and reliability against the current clinical standard (Teller Acuity Card procedure). That digital platform functionality includes user interface, scalable testing patterns, and video output. That platform leverages the innate optokinetic response (OKN), the mobility of a tablet computer and the access and computational capability of the cloud. Cost and complexity of existing vision screening solutions and, lack of cooperation from those young patients have limited access and use of many current testing methods for young children. Two thirds of all preschool children in the US have never had an eye examination or vision screening before starting school. The proposed solution will increase the access of preverbal children to early mass vision screening in the primary care practices during the well baby care visits.

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是，随着可靠、快速、移动和负担得起的视力筛查工具的开发，初级保健医生将能够对说话前儿童进行早期大规模视力筛查。该工具将允许在婴儿护理探视期间整合早期视力筛查。儿童早期视力问题是一个主要的公共卫生问题，仅在美国就有3%-5%的婴儿受到影响。目前为幼儿提供的视力筛查工具只是间接的视力测量，灵敏度有限，不是定量的，过于复杂和耗时，无法让所有儿童受益。及早发现和治疗视力障碍，改善视力治疗结果，防止早期学习发育缺陷。该SBIR项目将增加更早年龄的视力筛查，从而改善治疗和视力结果，允许在更多情况和地点进行筛查，并产生一种商业上可行的、临床上可靠的幼儿视觉功能测量方法。拟议的项目将增强针对口语前儿童的视力筛查数字平台，并对照当前的临床标准(Teller Acuity Card Procedure)验证测试性能和可靠性。该数字平台的功能包括用户界面、可扩展的测试模式和视频输出。该平台利用了固有的视动反应(OKN)、平板电脑的移动性以及云的访问和计算能力。现有视力筛查解决方案的成本和复杂性，以及缺乏这些年轻患者的合作，限制了对幼儿的许多现有检测方法的获得和使用。美国三分之二的学龄前儿童在上学前从未接受过视力检查或视力筛查。拟议的解决方案将增加口语前儿童在初级保健实践中进行早期集体视力筛查的机会，在婴儿护理探视期间。