Visual Field Assessment Device Using Dynamic Stimulus Sequences
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional visual field analyzers are limited in their ability to effectively rehabilitate visual impairment resulting from acquired brain injury, as they require patients to fixate on a central point, making it difficult to assess and utilize residual vision effectively, and cannot detect differences in attention to visual stimuli, leading to inaccurate results and patient fatigue.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus with a display board featuring multiple light-emitting visual stimuli arranged in predetermined sequences, allowing for assessment and rehabilitation by teaching clinicians to observe and improve patients' ability to utilize their residual vision by scanning their visual field, including tests to establish and reinforce scanning patterns and attention to multiple stimuli.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If patients fixate on a central point using traditional visual field analysers, then the device can map out the patient's visual field, but the patient cannot effectively utilize their residual vision and experiences fatigue
Solution Approach 1:
The display board is divided into multiple quadrants with different visual stimuli in each quadrant, allowing patients to scan across different segments rather than fixing on a single central point. This segmentation enables comprehensive visual field assessment while encouraging active scanning behavior that utilizes residual vision effectively.
Solution Approach 2:
The visual stimuli are presented in dynamic sequences that change over time, requiring patients to actively scan and track moving patterns rather than passively fixing their gaze. This dynamic presentation reduces fatigue by engaging the patient's natural scanning behavior while maintaining measurement accuracy.
2Measurement precision
If traditional visual field analysers present single stimuli, then the device can determine visual field boundaries, but it cannot detect differences in patient attention to visual stimuli
Solution Approach 1:
The system combines multiple visual stimuli presented simultaneously across different quadrants of the display board, rather than presenting single stimuli sequentially. This merging allows the system to capture both visual field boundaries and attention patterns, as patients' eye movements and attention distribution become observable through their responses to multiple concurrent stimuli.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where patient responses to visual stimuli are immediately processed and used to adjust subsequent stimulus presentation. This feedback loop enables the system to detect attention patterns and eye behavior, providing richer data about patient visual processing while maintaining accurate visual field mapping.
3Measurement precision
If clinicians use conventional testing methods, then they can assess visual field loss, but they cannot observe patient eye behavior and head movement during testing
Solution Approach 1:
The display board serves multiple functions simultaneously: it maps visual field boundaries, assesses attention patterns, and observes eye behavior and head movements. By integrating these assessment capabilities into a single unified system, the device eliminates the need for separate observation methods while maintaining accurate visual field loss assessment.
4Productivity
If patients concentrate on a central point for lengthy periods, then traditional analysers can complete visual field mapping, but patient fatigue increases and result accuracy decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Visual stimuli are presented in periodic sequences with varying intervals and patterns across different quadrants, preventing patients from maintaining static fixation. This periodic variation keeps patients engaged through active scanning while completing visual field mapping efficiently, thereby maintaining both productivity and result reliability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus enables comprehensive assessment and rehabilitation of visual impairment by allowing clinicians to observe and improve patients' scanning patterns, reducing fatigue and improving accuracy in detecting visual stimuli, thereby enhancing the patient's ability to use their residual vision in daily activities.
Implementation Method 1
The display board (32) contains twenty visual stimuli; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20. These stimuli are preferably light emitting devices
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for the assessment and rehabilitation of vision impairment. In particular, the invention is concerned with an apparatus displaying visual stimuli and the method of using this device for the purpose of assessment and rehabilitation of individuals with acquired brain injury and visual impairment resulting therefrom. The apparatus comprises a display means with a plurality of visual stimuli switched on and off in predetermined sequences. The sequences are adapted to be used to assess and rehabilitate a person's visual impairment.