The Usefulness of a Wearable Electronic Vision Enhancement System for People With Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Randomized Crossover Trial.

Purpose: To determine the usefulness of a wearable electronic vision enhancement system (wEVES) for people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods: Thirty-four adults with AMD, 64.7% female, mean age 80.

Association between self-reported vision and mental well-being: a cross-sectional secondary analysis of Health Survey for England data.

Objectives: Eye disease and vision impairment are known to be associated with reduced mental well-being, but less is known about the well-being of people with near-normal levels of vision. Here, we examined the association between self-reported eyesight and mental well-being, controlling for eye disease, mental ill-health and demographic factors, for adults with a wide range of age and vision.

Design: Population-based cross-sectional study.

Well-being, mental health and sleep in children and young people with vision impairment: A narrative review.

Multiple studies have shown that vision impairment impacts adults' well-being, mental health, and sleep. However, little attention has been given to these areas in children and young people with vision impairment. This narrative review explores the relationship between vision impairment, well-being, mental ill-health, and sleep in children and young people with vision impairment.

'Such a lot of bother': Qualitative results of a home trial of a wearable electronic vision enhancement system for people with age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: Wearable electronic low vision enhancement systems (wEVES) improve visual function but are not widely adopted by people with vision impairment. Here, qualitative research methods were used to investigate the usefulness of wEVES for people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) after an extended home trial.

Methods: Following a 12-week non-masked randomised crossover trial, semi-structured interviews were completed with 34 participants with AMD, 64.

Assessing Contrast Sensitivity Function in CRB1-Retinopathies: Exploring Child-Friendly Measures of Visual Function.

Purpose: Mutations affecting the CRB1 gene can result in a range of retinal phenotypes, including early onset severe retinal dystrophy/Leber congenital amaurosis (EOSRD/LCA), retinitis pigmentosa, cone-rod dystrophy (CORD), and macular dystrophy (MD). As research into treatment strategies advances towards clinical translation, there is a need to establish reliable outcome metrics. This study explores the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) across different spatial frequencies in individuals with CRB1-retinopathies using the child-friendly PopCSF test, an iPad-based "gamified" assessment.

Digital health and wearable devices for retinal disease monitoring.

Digital health is wielding a growing influence across all areas of healthcare, encompassing various facets such as telemedicine, artificial intelligence (AI), and electronic healthcare records. In Ophthalmology, digital health innovations can be broadly divided into four categories: (i) self-monitoring home devices and apps, (ii) virtual and augmented reality visual aids, (iii) AI software, and (iv) wearables. Wearable devices can work in the background, collecting large amounts of objective data while we do our day-to-day activities, which may be ecologically more valid and meaningful to patients than that acquired in traditional hospital settings.

Eccentric Viewing Training for Age-Related Macular Disease: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial (the EFFECT Study).

Purpose: Eccentric viewing training for macular disease has been performed for > 40 years, but no large studies including control groups have assessed the benefits of this training. The EFFECT (Eccentric Fixation From Enhanced Clinical Training) study is a large randomized controlled trial of 2 types of eccentric viewing training.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

"I'm like something out of star wars": a qualitative investigation of the views of people with age-related macular degeneration regarding wearable electronic vision enhancement systems.

Purpose: This study explores the initial views of people with age-related macular degeneration towards wearable electronic vision enhancement systems.

Methods: Ten adults with age-related macular degeneration participated in semi-structured interviews, which were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Results: Four themes were identified.

Can children measure their own vision? A comparison of three new contrast sensitivity tests.

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of children measuring their own contrast sensitivity using a range of tablet- and paper-based tests.

Methods: Forty children aged 5-15 years with amblyopia (N = 10), bilateral vision impairment (N = 10) or good vision (N = 20) measured their own vision on a screen-based optotype test (Manifold), a gamified vision test (PopCSF) and a paper-based test (Spotchecks) in a laboratory with minimal supervision. Completion rate, test-retest repeatability, test duration and participants' preferences were recorded for each test.

Are wearable electronic vision enhancement systems (wEVES) beneficial for people with age-related macular degeneration? A scoping review.

Introduction: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of irreversible visual impairment in the United Kingdom. It has a wide-ranging detrimental impact on daily living, including impairment of functional ability and quality of life. Assistive technology designed to overcome this impairment includes wearable electronic vision enhancement systems (wEVES).

Novel use of a Franklin split lens for cycling with hemianopia.

Purpose: Optical rehabilitation for hemianopia includes the prescription of partial aperture prismatic lenses. Fresnel lenses for this purpose have poor optical quality, while bonded lenses have poor cosmesis and can only be made in glass, creating a potential hazard. Here we present an alternative lens type, which does not reduce contrast sensitivity and which can be made in plastic materials.

Design considerations for the ideal low vision aid: insights from de-brief interviews following a real-world recording study.

Purpose: Low Vision Aids (LVAs) can have a transformative impact on people living with sight loss, yet the everyday requirements for developing such devices remain poorly understood and defined. This study systematically explored LVA requirements through a structured de-brief interview following a real-world self-recording study. The purpose of this work was to define the actual needs of those living with sight loss so that low vision services can better address them in future.

Lockdown low vision assessment: an audit of 500 telephone-based modified low vision consultations.

Purpose: Non-urgent face-to-face outpatient ophthalmology appointments were suspended in the United Kingdom in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. In common with other centres, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (London) offered modified telephone consultations to new and follow-up patients in the low vision clinic. Here we assess the success of this telephone service.

Evaluation of a Home-Printable Vision Screening Test for Telemedicine.

Importance: Many ophthalmology appointments have been converted to telemedicine assessments. The use of a printed vision chart for ophthalmology telemedicine appointments that can be used by people who are excluded from digital testing has yet to be validated.

Objectives: To evaluate the repeatability of visual acuity measured using the Home Acuity Test (HAT) and the agreement between the HAT and the last in-clinic visual acuity.

Everyday visual demands of people with low vision: A mixed methods real-life recording study.

Research has demonstrated that low vison aids (LVAs) can have a positive impact on the functional sight of those living with sight loss. Step changes in technology are now enabling new wearable LVAs with greater potential than those available previously. For these novel devices to receive increased acceptance and therefore adoption by those with sight loss, visual task demands have to be understood more clearly in order to enable better alignment between device design and user requirements.

Online Survey of Digital Reading by Adults with Low Vision.

Significance: Access to digital text is increasingly widespread, but its impact on low-vision reading is not well understood.

Purpose: We conducted an online survey of people with low vision to determine what assistive technologies they use for visual reading, their preferred text characteristics, and the time they devote to reading digital and hard-copy text.

Methods: One hundred thirty-three low-vision participants completed an online survey.

Benefit of an electronic head-mounted low vision aid.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of electronic head-mounted low vision aid (e-LVA) SightPlus (GiveVision, UK, givevision.net) and to determine which people with low vision would see themselves likely using an e-LVA like this.

Methods: Sixty participants with low vision aged 18 to 93 used SightPlus during an in-clinic study session based on a mixed methods design.

The Pulfrich Phenomenon: Practical Implications of the Assessment of Cases and Effectiveness of Treatment.

The Pulfrich phenomenon, originally described in normal observers, is a treatable disorder of the perception of movement in depth in cases of unilateral or asymmetric optic neuropathy. Treatment is highly bespoke and factors influencing treatment response and failure remain unclear. We assessed 25 adults with suspected Pulfrich phenomenon due to a range of conditions in two tertiary referral centres.

How People with Low Vision Achieve Magnification in Digital Reading.

Significance: Digital reading displays provide opportunities for enhancing accessibility of text for low vision. How are these displays used by people in their daily lives?

Purpose: Subjects responded to an online survey concerning their vision history, reading technology, display preferences, and reading habits. Here, we report on findings concerning acuity and magnification.

Tablet computers versus optical aids to support education and learning in children and young people with low vision: protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial, CREATE (Children Reading with Electronic Assistance To Educate).

Introduction: Low vision and blindness adversely affect education and independence of children and young people. New 'assistive' technologies such as tablet computers can display text in enlarged font, read text out to the user, allow speech input and conversion into typed text, offer document and spreadsheet processing and give access to wide sources of information such as the internet. Research on these devices in low vision has been limited to case series.

Functional visual fields: relationship of visual field areas to self-reported function.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to relate areas of the visual field to functional difficulties to inform the development of a binocular visual field assessment that can reflect the functional consequences of visual field loss.

Methods: Fifty-two participants with peripheral visual field loss undertook binocular assessment of visual fields using the 30-2 and 60-4 SITA Fast programs on the Humphrey Field Analyser, and mean thresholds were derived. Binocular visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and near reading performance were also determined.

Simulation contact lenses for AMD health state utility values in NICE appraisals: a different reality.

Background/aims: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended the use of ranibizumab for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and for diabetic macular oedema (DMO) as part of its health technology appraisal process. In the economic evaluations of both interventions, utility values were derived from members of the general public wearing contact lenses with a central opacity that was meant to simulate the blind spot experienced by many patients with advanced retinal disease. This paper tests the validity of the contact lens simulation, and finding it to be invalid, explores the impact on prior economic evaluations.

Smartphone, tablet computer and e-reader use by people with vision impairment.

Purpose: Consumer electronic devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, and e-book readers have become far more widely used in recent years. Many of these devices contain accessibility features such as large print and speech. Anecdotal experience suggests people with vision impairment frequently make use of these systems.