Remapping the Visual Field to Aid Reading with Central Scotomas

使用中央盲点重新映射视野以帮助阅读

基本信息

批准号：
10661846
负责人：
STEPHEN A. ENGEL
金额：
$ 37.24万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2020
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2020-07-01 至 2025-06-30
项目状态：
未结题

项目摘要

Project Summary Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) typically produces extensive central vision loss, leading to difficulty in reading, navigating, and other critical tasks. Current assistive devices for vision with central scotomas, while promising, are limited in effectiveness. This proposal aims to fill this gap by advancing understanding of remapping, a method that improves the effectiveness of patients’ residual vision by shifting information from inside the central blind spot (scotoma) to intact locations in the visual field. Only a handful of past studies have examined remapping, including just a single study of patients. Our group recently demonstrated the method’s promise, showing that it can improve reading substantially in observers with simulated field loss. Critically, patients differ widely in the shape of their scotomas, and the quality of their vision across the visual field. This variability imposes severe limitations on the “one size fits all” remapping approaches used in prior work, that simply shift the image away from the scotoma center. If, for example, a patient’s preferred retinal location (used for high acuity tasks) is near the lower left edge of their scotoma, shifting text upward or rightward may not aid reading as much as shifting it downward, as the latter will place the text in regions of best visual acuity. This proposal will test the value of personalized remappings, which shift the image in a way that is optimized for each patient’s residual vision. The remappings are constructed using a novel letter recognition perimetry task, which measures performance across the visual field: The personalized remappings are constructed to shift text to maximize observers’ total letter recognition ability. Proposed work will first test the hypothesis that personalized remapping can improve single word recognition. Single word reading will be measured with a variety of scotoma sizes, shapes, and PRL locations. Performance with personalized remapping will be compared to that with traditional remapping and no remapping in both control observers with simulated scotomas and people with macular degeneration. Proposed work will also test the hypothesis that personalized remappings can improve free reading. Reading speed, error rates, and eye movement patterns will be measured in a sentence reading task, and in free reading of natural images containing text. Preliminary data support the value of remapping generally, and the potential of the letter recognition perimetry task for building personalized remappings. Results of this proposal will provide the first thorough testing of remapping, and will also inform models of peripheral reading in patients and controls. The proposed studies will develop and evaluate a novel method for assisting people with low-visions, tailored to their individual residual performance. Personlaized remapping may also be incorporated into practical visual aids to improve daily visual function and quality of life.

项目概要年龄相关性黄斑变性 (AMD) 通常会导致广泛的中心视力丧失，导致视力丧失阅读、导航和其他关键任务的视觉辅助设备，同时具有中心暗点。该提案旨在通过增进对这一问题的理解来填补这一空白。重新映射，一种通过转移信息来提高患者残余视力有效性的方法过去只有少数研究发现了中央盲点（暗点）内到视野中完整位置的情况。检查了重新映射，包括我们的小组最近演示了该方法的一项研究。承诺，表明它可以大大提高具有模拟场损失的观察者的读数。患者的暗点形状和整个视野的视力质量差异很大。变异性对“一刀切”的严格限制强加了先前工作中使用的重新映射方法，即例如，如果患者喜欢的视网膜位置，只需将图像移离暗点中心即可。（用于高敏锐度任务）位于其暗点的左下边缘附近，向上或向右移动文本可能会向下移动并不能帮助阅读，因为后者会将文本放置在最佳视觉敏锐度的区域。该提案将测试个性化重新映射的价值，以优化的方式移动图像对于每个患者的残余视力，重新映射是使用字母新颖的识别视野测量法构建的。任务，衡量整个视野的表现：个性化的重新映射被构建为移动文本以最大化观察者的总字母识别能力。拟议的工作将首先测试以下假设：个性化重新映射可以提高单个单词的识别度。各种暗点尺寸、形状和 PRL 位置将通过个性化重新映射来实现。与传统的重映射和没有重映射的情况相比，两个控制观察器都具有模拟拟议的工作还将检验个性化的假设。重新映射可以提高自由阅读速度、错误率和眼球运动模式。在句子阅读任务和包含初步数据的自然图像的自由阅读中进行测量。支持一般重新映射的价值，以及字母识别视野测量任务在构建方面的潜力该提案的结果将提供对重新映射的首次彻底测试，并将还为患者和对照组的周边阅读模型提供信息。拟议的研究将得到发展和实现。评估一种帮助弱视人士的新方法，根据他们的个人剩余表现量身定制。个性化的重新映射也可以纳入实用的视觉辅助工具中，以改善日常视觉功能和生活质量。