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Seeing other perspectives: evaluating the use of virtual and augmented reality to simulate visual impairments (OpenVisSim)

Simulations of visual impairment are used to educate and inform the public. However, evidence regarding their accuracy remains lacking. Here we evaluated the effectiveness of modern digital technologies to simulate the everyday difficulties caused by glaucoma. 23 normally sighted adults performed tw...

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Autores principales: Jones, Pete R., Somoskeöy, Tamás, Chow-Wing-Bom, Hugo, Crabb, David P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7064490/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32195367
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-0242-6
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author Jones, Pete R.
Somoskeöy, Tamás
Chow-Wing-Bom, Hugo
Crabb, David P.
author_facet Jones, Pete R.
Somoskeöy, Tamás
Chow-Wing-Bom, Hugo
Crabb, David P.
author_sort Jones, Pete R.
collection PubMed
description Simulations of visual impairment are used to educate and inform the public. However, evidence regarding their accuracy remains lacking. Here we evaluated the effectiveness of modern digital technologies to simulate the everyday difficulties caused by glaucoma. 23 normally sighted adults performed two everyday tasks that glaucoma patients often report difficulties with: a visual search task in which participants attempted to locate a mobile phone in virtual domestic environments (virtual reality (VR)), and a visual mobility task in which participants navigated a physical, room-scale environment, while impairments were overlaid using augmented reality (AR). On some trials, a gaze-contingent simulated scotoma—generated using perimetric data from a real patient with advanced glaucoma—was presented in either the superior or inferior hemifield. The main outcome measure was task completion time. Eye and head movements were also tracked and used to assess individual differences in looking behaviors. The results showed that the simulated impairments substantially impaired performance in both the VR (visual search) and AR (visual mobility) tasks (both P < 0.001). Furthermore, and in line with previous patient data: impairments were greatest when the simulated Visual Field Loss (VFL) was inferior versus superior (P < 0.001), participants made more eye and head movements in the inferior VFL condition (P < 0.001), and participants rated the inferior VFL condition as more difficult (P < 0.001). Notably, the difference in performance between the inferior and superior conditions was almost as great as the difference between a superior VFL and no impairment at all (VR: 71%; AR: 70%). We conclude that modern digital simulators are able to replicate and objectively quantify some of the key everyday difficulties associated with visual impairments. Advantages, limitations, and possible applications of current technologies are discussed. Instructions are also given for how to freely obtain the software described (OpenVisSim).
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spelling pubmed-70644902020-03-19 Seeing other perspectives: evaluating the use of virtual and augmented reality to simulate visual impairments (OpenVisSim) Jones, Pete R. Somoskeöy, Tamás Chow-Wing-Bom, Hugo Crabb, David P. NPJ Digit Med Article Simulations of visual impairment are used to educate and inform the public. However, evidence regarding their accuracy remains lacking. Here we evaluated the effectiveness of modern digital technologies to simulate the everyday difficulties caused by glaucoma. 23 normally sighted adults performed two everyday tasks that glaucoma patients often report difficulties with: a visual search task in which participants attempted to locate a mobile phone in virtual domestic environments (virtual reality (VR)), and a visual mobility task in which participants navigated a physical, room-scale environment, while impairments were overlaid using augmented reality (AR). On some trials, a gaze-contingent simulated scotoma—generated using perimetric data from a real patient with advanced glaucoma—was presented in either the superior or inferior hemifield. The main outcome measure was task completion time. Eye and head movements were also tracked and used to assess individual differences in looking behaviors. The results showed that the simulated impairments substantially impaired performance in both the VR (visual search) and AR (visual mobility) tasks (both P < 0.001). Furthermore, and in line with previous patient data: impairments were greatest when the simulated Visual Field Loss (VFL) was inferior versus superior (P < 0.001), participants made more eye and head movements in the inferior VFL condition (P < 0.001), and participants rated the inferior VFL condition as more difficult (P < 0.001). Notably, the difference in performance between the inferior and superior conditions was almost as great as the difference between a superior VFL and no impairment at all (VR: 71%; AR: 70%). We conclude that modern digital simulators are able to replicate and objectively quantify some of the key everyday difficulties associated with visual impairments. Advantages, limitations, and possible applications of current technologies are discussed. Instructions are also given for how to freely obtain the software described (OpenVisSim). Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-03-10 /pmc/articles/PMC7064490/ /pubmed/32195367 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-0242-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Jones, Pete R.
Somoskeöy, Tamás
Chow-Wing-Bom, Hugo
Crabb, David P.
Seeing other perspectives: evaluating the use of virtual and augmented reality to simulate visual impairments (OpenVisSim)
title Seeing other perspectives: evaluating the use of virtual and augmented reality to simulate visual impairments (OpenVisSim)
title_full Seeing other perspectives: evaluating the use of virtual and augmented reality to simulate visual impairments (OpenVisSim)
title_fullStr Seeing other perspectives: evaluating the use of virtual and augmented reality to simulate visual impairments (OpenVisSim)
title_full_unstemmed Seeing other perspectives: evaluating the use of virtual and augmented reality to simulate visual impairments (OpenVisSim)
title_short Seeing other perspectives: evaluating the use of virtual and augmented reality to simulate visual impairments (OpenVisSim)
title_sort seeing other perspectives: evaluating the use of virtual and augmented reality to simulate visual impairments (openvissim)
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7064490/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32195367
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-0242-6
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