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

Award ID: 2037290

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 patients 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.

NSF Program Director: Ruth Shuman