Wearable Improved Vision System for Color Vision Deficiency Correction

IEEE J Transl Eng Health Med. 2017 May 2:5:3800107. doi: 10.1109/JTEHM.2017.2679746. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Color vision deficiency (CVD) is an extremely frequent vision impairment that compromises the ability to recognize colors. In order to improve color vision in a subject with CVD, we designed and developed a wearable improved vision system based on an augmented reality device. The system was validated in a clinical pilot study on 24 subjects with CVD (18 males and 6 females, aged 37.4 ± 14.2 years). The primary outcome was the improvement in the Ishihara Vision Test score with the correction proposed by our system. The Ishihara test score significantly improved ([Formula: see text]) from 5.8 ± 3.0 without correction to 14.8 ± 5.0 with correction. Almost all patients showed an improvement in color vision, as shown by the increased test scores. Moreover, with our system, 12 subjects (50%) passed the vision color test as normal vision subjects. The development and preliminary validation of the proposed platform confirm that a wearable augmented-reality device could be an effective aid to improve color vision in subjects with CVD.

Keywords: Augmented reality; color vision deficiency; medical device; wearable device.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Regione Campania under the research project Computer Improved VISus.