Northeastern expert says training people on how to use their peripheral vision can compensate for central vision problems.
Central vision loss from macular degeneration affects millions of people, mainly older adults.
So why is a Northeastern researcher and colleagues simulating vision loss in young and healthy people with nearly perfect eyesight?
Professor Aaron Seitz says the idea is that training young adults with excellent vision in how to use their peripheral vision can establish a working model to help people who actually experience central vision loss compensate for their disability.
There currently is no “gold standard” for rehabilitation services for people with macular degeneration, according to a paper in Jove, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, co-authored by Seitz, a professor of physical therapy, human movement and rehabilitation sciences.
“A growing body of research” is using guided eye tracking and other measures to simulate central vision loss in individuals with intact vision to develop frameworks on which to train people with vision impairment, the study says.
Macular degeneration is one of the most common causes of vision loss as people age, although there are juvenile versions as well.
Blood vessels erupt and displace retinal cells that allow people to see clearly in their central field of view, while details in the peripheral vision remain sharp.
“People who have macular degeneration lose vision in their central visual field,” Seitz says.
Macular degeneration has been described as seeing a clock without the hands and only the numbers.
While many people develop spontaneous eye movements to compensate for their loss of central vision, including adopting a preferred retinal locus, it can be a lengthy process and not all are successful, Seitz says.
While people in industrialized countries can stave off macular degeneration with sun protection, healthy diets, special supplements and eye exams, individuals in poorer nations are more exposed to the effects of central vision loss, he says.
Macular degeneration is a worldwide problem, projected to affect 248 million people by 2040.
Vision researchers aim to train individuals with macular generation to use their peripheral vision to compensate for their loss of central vision. But the goal has been a challenge to achieve, Seitz says.
Finding vision-impaired individuals who can regularly go to a vision lab for the purposes of having their eyesight tracked and measured has been one barrier.
Using college students to test hypotheses, examine interactions between tasks and assess training effects is one way around obstacles, he says.
“It took us years to get all these little details right. This particular journal allows people to share protocols and (create) videos and teach other people if a lab wants to do this research,” Seitz says.
The goal is to learn from observations without having to reinvent the wheel when it comes to establishing a framework for macular degeneration vision training, he says.
“It’s very promising as a model system,” Seitz says.
He says he and his colleagues not only want to make it easier for other researchers to conduct research on macular degeneration — they want to make it easier for people with central vision loss to participate in the studies.
The goal is to create a virtual reality headset so study participants can participate from home, without worrying about getting transportation to researchers’ labs, Seitz says.
“We could reach many more people, people who never had the opportunity to be part of the research,” Seitz says.