Multimodal Biofeedback Visual Training for Blind Field Expansion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current visual training devices for patients with visual processing damage in the brain lack effective feedback mechanisms and fail to fully stimulate both light and dark detectors, leading to limited therapeutic outcomes and practicality issues.
Innovation Solution
The use of multimodal stimuli such as sound and vibration, combined with biofeedback principles, to aid patients in identifying and locating visual targets, allowing for independent fixation placement and encouraging errant eye movements to establish cognitive relationships between blind and sighted fields, thereby providing continuous sensory feedback for learning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a large dome containing arrays of light bulbs is used for visual training, then visual field assessment and passive training can be provided, but the device size becomes very large and inflexible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a computer screen to display visual targets instead of a physical dome with light bulbs. The screen creates a virtual visual field that can be controlled software-wise, eliminating the need for large physical infrastructure while maintaining visual field assessment and training capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a three-dimensional physical dome structure to a two-dimensional computer screen display. This dimensional reduction allows the same visual training function to be delivered in a compact form factor while maintaining flexibility through software control.
2Use of energy by moving object
If only bright light targets are presented in a dome, then on-cell stimulation is achieved, but dark detector stimulation is difficult to manage and visual system training is incomplete
Solution Approach 1:
The computer screen can display both bright and dark targets by simply changing the software parameters. This multi-functionality allows the same device to stimulate both on-cells (light-sensitive) and off-cells (dark-sensitive) without requiring separate physical hardware configurations, thereby training the complete visual system.
3Loss of time
If visual stimuli are presented extremely brief without immediate feedback, then exploratory testing can be conducted, but therapeutic improvement is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements immediate feedback mechanisms where patients receive information about their performance during training sessions. This feedback loop allows patients to learn from their responses and progressively improve their visual function, transforming the system from purely exploratory to therapeutically effective while maintaining efficient brief stimulus presentation.
4Measurement precision
If fixation is strictly controlled to prevent eye movements, then target location precision can be measured, but patient interactivity and active training are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts between controlled fixation conditions for measurement and more flexible conditions for active training. Patients can progress from strict fixation requirements to greater eye movement freedom as their visual function improves, allowing both precise measurement and active patient engagement throughout the training process.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method and device for the training of human vision using multi-modal stimulation (at least one of sound and vibration) and principles of biofeedback to aid in the detection of visual targets. The programmable device generates a repetitive, randomly positioned target onto a monitor situated in an unsighted portion of the patients visual field. The subjects task, to manually search for and find this target on the screen, is aided by an ongoing (auditory or tactile) feedback mechanism which changes in temporal frequency according to the subjects proximity to the target, being most rapid when upon it. This approach is intended for those who have experienced insult to areas of the visual system responsible for conscious sight and whose deficits range from visual inattention to complete blindness.