I-Corps: A Mixed Reality Solution for Diagnosis and Recovery of Visual Function Losses due to Age-related, Degenerative Eye Diseases

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发和翻译一种头戴式显示系统，为眼睛护理专业人员和患者提供负担得起、可靠和方便的技术，用于诊断每个患者的疾病、预测进展风险和设计有效的视力康复方案。包括视网膜神经节细胞(RGC)变性、视盘水肿、新生血管和视网膜出血在内的一系列疾病会影响人类的视觉系统，并与进行性视力威胁疾病有关，如老年性黄斑变性(AMD)、糖尿病视网膜病变(DR)、缺血性视神经病变(ION)和青光眼。根据国家眼科研究所(NEI)的数据，到2020年，这些眼病预计将影响1400多万患者。这项拟议技术的主要商业潜力是眼睛护理(眼科和验光)以及低视力康复治疗。此外，1400万患有多种形式威胁视力的视网膜或视神经疾病的患者将受益于使用拟议的技术来改善他们的日常生活功能。研究人类视觉系统的视觉研究人员和科学家将能够使用该产品来促进关于人眼和视觉的知识，以改善美国的眼睛护理状况。i-Corps项目基于一种混合现实产品的开发，该产品利用机器学习和计算机视觉来模拟患者的感知-功能视力缺陷。以双目方式测量缺陷，即分别测量每只眼睛。这使得所提出的技术能够独立地模拟每只眼睛的视力损失。通过利用这些模型，所提出的装置适当地修改视觉刺激，以帮助患者恢复丧失的视觉功能。患者还可以使用该设备进行几项功能性视力评估，以在家中测量视野损失、颜色和对比度敏感度、立体视觉和敏锐度。通过执行这些测试，建议的设备为每个患者建立基线测量，并随着时间的推移监测患者视力丧失的状态和进展。这些测试的结果可能会与患者的眼睛护理提供者沟通，以在需要时确定适当的干预措施。该产品基于最新的研究成果，集成了从两个独立摄像头拍摄视频和独立修改每只眼睛的视觉刺激的能力。这些功能可能会使拟议的设备成为因视力丧失而失去行动能力和独立性的患者的无价低视力辅助设备。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development and translation of a head mounted display system that provides eye-care professionals and patients with affordable, reliable, and convenient technologies for diagnosing each individual patient’s disease, predicting progression risks, and designing effective vision rehabilitation protocols. A spectrum of conditions including retina ganglion cell (RGC) degeneration, optic disc edema, neovascularization, and retinal hemorrhaging affect the human visual system and are associated with progressive vision threatening diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy (DR), ischemic optic neuropathy (ION), and glaucoma. According to the National Eye Institute (NEI), these eye diseases are expected to affect over 14 million patients in 2020. The main commercial potential of the proposed technology is in eye-care (ophthalmology and optometry) as well as low-vision rehabilitation therapy. In addition, 14 million patients suffering from many forms of vision-threatening retina or optic nerve diseases will benefit from using the proposed technology to improve their functions of daily living. Vision researchers and scientists who study the human visual system will be able to use the product to advance knowledge about the human eye and vision to improve the status of eye care in the U.S.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a mixed-reality product that utilizes machine learning and computer vision to model patient's perceptual-functional vision deficit. The deficits are measured in a binocular manner, i.e. for each eye separately. This makes the proposed technology capable of modeling the vision loss for each eye independently. By utilizing these models the proposed device appropriately modifies the visual stimuli to help patients recover lost visual function. The device also may be used by the patient to undertake several functional vision assessments to measure visual fields losses, color and contrast sensitivity, stereo-vision, and acuity, at home. By performing these tests, the proposed device builds baseline measures for each patient and monitors the status and progression of the patient's vision loss over time. The results of these tests may be communicated with the patient's eye care provider to determine suitable interventions when the need arises. The product is based on recent research results integrating the capabilities of taking video captures from two independent cameras and modifying the visual stimuli for each eye independently. These functionalities may make the proposed device an invaluable low-vision aid for patients who have lost mobility and independence due to vision loss.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.