Gaze Scanning on Mid-Block Sidewalks by Pedestrians With Homonymous Hemianopia With or Without Spatial Neglect.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate gaze-scanning by pedestrians with homonymous hemianopia (HH) when walking on mid-block sidewalks.

Methods: Pedestrians with right homonymous hemianopia (RHH), and left homonymous hemianopia (LHH) without and with left spatial neglect (LHSN) walked on city streets wearing a gaze-tracking system. Gaze points were obtained by combining head movement and eye-in-head movement.

Pilot study of a pedestrian collision detection test for a multisite trial of field expansion devices for hemianopia.

Significance: Performance-based outcome measures are crucial for clinical trials of field expansion devices. We implemented a test simulating a real-world mobility situation, focusing on detection of a colliding pedestrian among multiple noncolliding pedestrians, suitable for measuring the effects of homonymous hemianopia and assistive devices in clinical trials.

Purpose: In preparation for deploying the test in a multisite clinical trial, we conducted a pilot study to gather preliminary data on blind-side collision detection performance with multiperiscopic peripheral prisms compared with Fresnel peripheral prisms.

Knowing me, knowing you-A study on top-down requirements for compensatory scanning in drivers with homonymous visual field loss.

Objective: It is currently still unknown why some drivers with visual field loss can compensate well for their visual impairment while others adopt ineffective strategies. This paper contributes to the methodological investigation of the associated top-down mechanisms and aims at validating a theoretical model on the requirements for successful compensation among drivers with homonymous visual field loss.

Methods: A driving simulator study was conducted with eight participants with homonymous visual field loss and eight participants with normal vision.

Egocentric Boundaries on Distinguishing Colliding and Non-Colliding Pedestrians while Walking in a Virtual Environment.

Avoiding person-to-person collisions is critical for visual field loss patients. Any intervention claiming to improve the safety of such patients should empirically demonstrate its efficacy. To design a VR mobility testing platform presenting multiple pedestrians, a distinction between colliding and non-colliding pedestrians must be clearly defined.

Gaze Scanning at Street Crossings by Pedestrians With Homonymous Hemianopia With and Without Hemispatial Neglect.

Purpose: To investigate compensatory gaze-scanning behaviors during street crossings by pedestrians with homonymous hemianopia (HH) and hemispatial neglect (HSN).

Methods: Pedestrians with right homonymous hemianopia (RHH) and left homonymous hemianopia without (LHH) and with left spatial-neglect (LHSN) walked on city streets wearing a gaze-tracking system that also captured scene videos. Street-crossing instances were manually annotated, and horizontal gaze scan of magnitude ≥20° and scanning rates were compared within-subject, between the side of the hemifield loss (BlindSide) and the other side (SeeingSide).

Driving Difficulties and Preferences of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems by Older Drivers With Central Vision Loss.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate driving difficulties and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) use and preferences of drivers with and without central vision loss (CVL).

Methods: Fifty-eight drivers with CVL (71 ± 13 years) and 68 without (72 ± 8 years) completed a telephone questionnaire. They rated their perceived driving difficulty and usefulness of technology support in 15 driving situations under good (daytime) and reduced visibility conditions, and reported their use experience and preferences for 12 available ADAS technologies.

Effects of Perceptual-motor Training on Collision Judgments with Peripheral Prism Expanded Vision.

Significance: Peripheral prisms (p-prisms) improve blind-side detection of hazards in hemianopia by shifting the image of the hazard into the intact visual field. Collision judgments can be made accurately after detection by using a gaze shift to fixate the hazard in the prism-free portion of the lens, but this is slow relative to normal peripheral vision. A prior study found that prism adaptation for visual direction did not occur with general wear.

Driving With Hemianopia X: Effects of Cross Traffic on Gaze Behaviors and Pedestrian Responses at Intersections.

Purpose: We conducted a driving simulator study to investigate the effects of monitoring intersection cross traffic on gaze behaviors and responses to pedestrians by drivers with hemianopic field loss (HFL).

Methods: Sixteen HFL and sixteen normal vision (NV) participants completed two drives in an urban environment. At 30 intersections, a pedestrian ran across the road when the participant entered the intersection, requiring a braking response to avoid a collision.

Change blindness in simulated driving in individuals with homonymous visual field loss.

Individuals with homonymous visual field loss (HVFL) fail to perceive visual information that falls within the blind portions of their visual field. This places additional burden on memory to represent information in their blind visual field, which may make visual changes in the scene more difficult to detect. Failing to detect changes could have serious implications in the context of driving.

Use and Perceptions of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems by Older Drivers With and Without Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Purpose: Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) have been reported to improve the safety of elderly and normally sighted drivers. The purpose of this study was to assess exposure to, perceived safety of, comfort level with, and interest in using ADAS among drivers with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods: Current drivers aged 60+ years were recruited at four US sites to complete a survey about ADAS and driving habits.

Clinical Report: Experiences of a Driver with Vision Impairment when Using a Tesla Car.

Significance: Assisted and autonomous driving technologies may be a new paradigm shift for the driving rehabilitation field to enable less restricted driving, increase driving confidence, and maintain driving safety for drivers with vision impairment.

Purpose: This study aimed to document how a driver with vision impairment uses assistance and automation systems in a Tesla car based on real-world experiences of using these technologies.

Methods: A 53-year-old man with Stargardt disease and 20/182 visual acuity self-explored the use of driver assistance technologies, which resulted in purchasing a Tesla Model Y with the full self-driving package in 2020.

Auditory Reminder Cues to Promote Proactive Scanning on Approach to Intersections in Drivers With Homonymous Hemianopia: Driving With Hemianopia, IX.

Importance: Individuals with homonymous hemianopia (HH) are permitted to drive in some jurisdictions. They could compensate for their hemifield vision loss by scanning toward the blind side. However, some drivers with HH do not scan adequately well to the blind side when approaching an intersection, resulting in delayed responses to hazards.

Driving with hemianopia VIII: Effects of a vibro-tactile assistance system on safety and gaze behavior in pedestrian crossing situations.

People with homonymous visual field defects (HVFDs), the loss of vision in the same half of the visual field in both eyes, are permitted to drive in some jurisdictions. However, the HVFD may cause difficulties in detecting hazards approaching on the side of the field loss (the blind side). An advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) could assist with hazard detection, but little research has been conducted to evaluate the potential benefits of an ADAS for visually impaired drivers.

Head Scanning Behavior Predicts Hazard Detection Safety Before Entering an Intersection.

Objective: We conducted a driving simulator study to investigate scanning and hazard detection before entering an intersection.

Background: Insufficient scanning has been suggested as a factor contributing to intersection crashes. However, little is known about the relative importance of the head and eye movement components of that scanning in peripheral hazard detection.

Home-Use Evaluation of a Wearable Collision Warning Device for Individuals With Severe Vision Impairments: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: There is scant rigorous evidence about the real-world mobility benefit of electronic mobility aids.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a collision warning device on the number of contacts experienced by blind and visually impaired people in their daily mobility.

Design, Setting, And Participants: In this double-masked randomized clinical trial, participants used a collision warning device during their daily mobility over a period of 4 weeks.

Towards Wide Range Tracking of Head Scanning Movement in Driving.

Gaining environmental awareness through lateral head scanning (yaw rotations) is important for driving safety, especially when approaching intersections. Therefore, head scanning movements could be an important behavioral metric for driving safety research and driving risk mitigation systems. Tracking head scanning movements with a single in-car camera is preferred hardware-wise, but it is very challenging to track the head over almost a 180° range.

Driving With Hemianopia VII: Predicting Hazard Detection With Gaze and Head Scan Magnitude.

Purpose: One rehabilitation strategy taught to individuals with hemianopic field loss (HFL) is to make a large blind side scan to quickly identify hazards. However, it is not clear what the minimum threshold is for how large the scan should be. Using driving simulation, we evaluated thresholds (criteria) for gaze and head scan magnitudes that best predict detection safety.

Data Acquisition, Processing, and Reduction for Home-Use Trial of a Wearable Video Camera-Based Mobility Aid.

Purpose: Evaluating mobility aids in naturalistic conditions across many days is challenging owing to the sheer amount of data and hard-to-control environments. For a wearable video camera-based collision warning device, we present the methodology for acquisition, reduction, review, and coding of video data for quantitative analyses of mobility outcomes in blind and visually impaired participants.

Methods: Scene videos along with collision detection information were obtained from a chest-mounted collision warning device during daily use of the device.

Hazard Detection With Monocular Bioptic Telescopes in a Driving Simulator.

Purpose: In most states, people with reduced visual acuity may legally drive with the aid of a bioptic telescope. However, concerns have been raised that the ring scotoma may impair detection of peripheral hazards. Using a driving simulator, we tested the hypothesis that the fellow eye would be able to compensate for the ring scotoma when using a monocular telescope.

Bioptic Telescope Use in Naturalistic Driving by People with Visual Impairment.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the telescope use behaviors in natural daily driving of people with reduced visual acuity licensed to drive with a bioptic (a small spectacle-mounted telescope).

Methods: A large dataset (477 hours) of naturalistic driving was collected from 19 bioptic drivers (visual acuity 20/60 to 20/160 without the telescope). To reduce the data volume, a multiloss 50-layer deep residual neural network (ResNet-50) was used to detect potential bioptic telescope use events.

Automatic processing of gaze movements to quantify gaze scanning behaviors in a driving simulator.

Eye and head movements are used to scan the environment when driving. In particular, when approaching an intersection, large gaze scans to the left and right, comprising head and multiple eye movements, are made. We detail an algorithm called the gaze scan algorithm that automatically quantifies the magnitude, duration, and composition of such large lateral gaze scans.

The effects of age on the contributions of head and eye movements to scanning behavior at intersections.

The current study was aimed at evaluating the effects of age on the contributions of head and eye movements to scanning behavior at intersections. When approaching intersections, a wide area has to be scanned requiring large lateral head rotations as well as eye movements. Prior research suggests older drivers scan less extensively.

The Effects of Age, Distraction, and Simulated Central Vision Impairment on Hazard Detection in a Driving Simulator.

Significance: Despite similar levels of visual acuity and contrast sensitivity reductions, simulated central vision impairment increased response times to a much greater extent in older than in younger participants.

Purpose: Driving is crucial for maintaining independence in older age, but age-related vision impairments and in-vehicle auditory distractions may impair driving safety. We investigated the effects of age, simulated central vision impairment, and auditory distraction on detection of pedestrian hazards.

The effects of simulated acuity and contrast sensitivity impairments on detection of pedestrian hazards in a driving simulator.

Driving is a highly visual task, yet the vision requirements for driving licensure vary widely. All US states have a threshold for visual acuity (e.g.