Engineering Approaches to Low Vision Rehabilitation

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请是对NIH公告no - od -09-058的回应：“NIH宣布为竞争性修订申请提供恢复法案资金”。本申请是根据家长资助R01-EY12890“低视力康复的工程方法”提交的。中枢性视力丧失是主要的视力障碍，影响着全世界数百万人。病因包括老年性黄斑变性、视神经疾病和糖尿病视网膜病变。由于目前这些眼病的治疗方法有限，光学或电子放大镜是目前最常用的视觉辅助工具，用于阅读和看电视等。由于放大固有地限制了视野，改变了眼-头和眼-手的协调，这些放大镜不适合在许多情况下，除了阅读，特别是户外走动使用。我们建议开发基于光学透明头戴式显示器的混合视觉增强眼镜。该系统由用户控制，在不同情况下交替使用宽带增强和放大。在宽带增强模式下，基于安装在眼镜上的两个微型摄像头，合成与观看眼睛精确对齐的场景轮廓，然后叠加在自然透视视图上。这种1:1比例的增强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周边视野，这在许多日常活动中至关重要。在与宽带增强模式交替使用的放大模式下，一对液晶快门将被激活以阻挡透视视图，以增加放大图像的可见性。本研究的目标是将视觉增强从二维领域扩展到三维领域，使视障人士随时随地受益于视觉增强。在这个项目中，将开发一个便携式原型设备，然后对12名视障人士进行评估。该装置还将用作收集客观数据（例如放大图像的快照）的工具，以研究需要放大的对象和放大的级别，以及如何交替使用两种增强模式。

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.