Engineering Approaches to Low Vision Rehabilitation

描述(由申请人提供)：本申请是对美国国立卫生研究院NOT-OD-09-058号公告的回应：“美国国立卫生研究院宣布恢复法资金可用于竞争性修订申请”。这项申请是在家长资助R01-EY12890“低视力康复的工程方法”下提交的。中心视力丧失是主要的视力障碍，影响着全球数百万人。其原因包括老年性黄斑变性、视神经疾病和糖尿病视网膜病变。由于目前对这些眼病的治疗选择有限，光学或电子放大镜是目前最常用的阅读和看电视等视觉辅助工具。由于放大天生就会限制视野，改变眼头和眼手的协调，因此这些放大镜不适合阅读以外的许多情况，特别是户外移动使用。我们建议开发基于光学透视式头盔显示器的混合型视力增强眼镜。该系统由用户控制，在不同的情况下交替使用宽带增强和放大。在宽带增强模式中，基于安装在眼镜上的两个微型摄像头合成与观察眼的场景精确对准的场景轮廓，然后将其叠加在自然透视视图上。这种1：1比例的放大视图将改善视觉感知，允许用户保持不受影响的眼头和眼手协调，并且不会限制他们的外围视野，这在许多日常活动中是至关重要的。在与宽带增强模式交替使用的放大模式中，将激活一对液晶快门来遮挡透明视野，以增加放大图像的可见度。这项研究的目标是将视觉增强从二维域扩展到三维域，这样视障人士就可以随时随地受益于视觉增强。在这个项目中，将开发一种便携式原型设备，并在12名视障人士身上进行评估。该设备还将被用作收集客观数据(例如放大图像的快照)的工具，以调查哪些对象需要放大，放大到什么程度，以及两种增强模式如何交替使用。 与公共健康相关：拟议中的研究可能会产生一种有市场价值的低视力援助。该设备将把视觉增强从2-D领域(如计算机屏幕或电视)扩展到3-D现实世界，因此视障人士可以随时随地受益于视觉增强，并提高移动性。该项目的评估研究将为商业产品的可能开发提供重要的反馈。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is in response to NIH announcement NOT-OD-09-058: "NIH Announces the Availability of Recovery Act Funds for Competitive Revision Applications". This application is submitted under parent grant R01-EY12890 "Engineering Approaches to Low Vision Rehabilitation" .Central vision loss is the leading vision impairment, affecting millions of people worldwide. The causes include age-related macular degeneration, optic nerve diseases, and diabetic retinopathy. As curative treatment options for those eye diseases are currently limited, optical or electronic magnifiers are currently the most commonly used visual aids for reading and watching TV, etc. Because magnification inherently limits the field of view and changes eye- head and eye-hand coordination, these magnifiers are not suitable in many situations other than reading, especially for outdoor ambulatory use. We propose to develop hybrid vision-enhancement glasses based on an optical see-through head-mounted display. Controlled by users, the system employs wideband enhancement and magnification alternately in different situations. In the wideband enhancement mode, scene outlines that are precisely aligned with the scene for the viewing eyes are synthesized based on two miniature cameras mounted on the glasses, and then are superimposed over natural see- through view. This 1:1 scaled augmented view would improve visual perception, allows users to maintain unaffected eye-head and eye-hand coordination, and does not restrict their peripheral visual fields, which are critical in many daily activities. In the magnification mode used alternately with the wideband enhancement mode, a pair of liquid crystal shutters will be activated to block the see-through view to increase the visibility of magnified images. The goal of this proposed research is to extend vision enhancement from the 2-D domain to the 3-D domain, so visually impaired people can benefit from enhanced vision anywhere and anytime. In this project, a portable prototype device will be developed and then evaluated with 12 visually impaired human subjects. The device will also be used as a tool to collect objective data (e.g. snapshots of magnified images) for investigation on what objects need to be magnified and at what level, and how the two enhancement modes are used alternately. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed research may result in a marketable low vision aid. The device will extend vision enhancement from the 2-D domain (e.g. computer screen or TV) to the 3-D real world, so visually impaired people can benefit from enhanced vision anywhere and anytime and improve mobility. The evaluation study of this project will provide important feedback to the possible development of a commercial product.