I have been brainstorming over the past week on what name my product should have. So far I have been looking at names to do with VR and then Vision. I decided to include both of these elements in the name of the product after looking at the competitor “Vivid Vision”.
I first brainstormed some of the different words and names that I wanted to use.
Some of the Original Ideas for the Product Name
In the end I decided I wanted to include names such as Optical or Ocular, but I was still unsure. I liked either the name Optical Experiences or Optical Simulation as it explains the product clearly before you see it. By using a name with an “O” I can use an eye shape in the logo. I will run a poll to see what name people prefer and come up with a variety of logos.
Short-sightedness, or myopia, is a very common eye condition that causes distant objects to appear blurred, while close objects can be seen clearly.
It’s thought to affect up to one in three people in the UK and is becoming more common. Short-sightedness can range from mild, where treatment may not be required, to severe, where a person’s vision is significantly affected.
The condition usually starts around puberty and gets gradually worse until the eye is fully grown, but it can also develop in very young children.
Signs that your child may be short-sighted can include:
needing to sit near the front of the class at school because they find it difficult to read the whiteboard
sitting close to the TV
complaining of headaches or tired eyes
regularly rubbing their eyes
Getting your eyes tested
If you think you or your child may be short-sighted, you should book an eye test at a local opticians.
An eye test can confirm whether you’re short or long-sighted, and you can be given a prescription for glasses or contact lenses to correct your vision.
What causes short-sightedness?
Short-sightedness usually occurs when the eyes grow slightly too long.
This means that light doesn’t focus on the light-sensitive tissue (retina) at the back of the eye properly. Instead, the light rays focus just in front of the retina, resulting in distant objects appearing blurred.
It’s not clear exactly why this happens, but it often runs in families and has been linked to focusing on nearby objects, such as books and computers, for long periods during childhood.
Ensuring your child regularly spends time playing outside may help to reduce their risk of becoming short-sighted.
Normal Vision compared to Short-Sighted Vision.
Treatments for short-sightedness
Short-sightedness can usually be corrected effectively with a number of treatments.
The main treatments are:
corrective lenses – such as glasses or contact lenses to help the eyes focus on distant objects
laser eye surgeryto alter the shape of the eye – this isn’t usually available on the NHS and shouldn’t be carried out on children, whose eyes are still developing
artificial lens implants – where a man-made lens is permanently inserted into the eyes to help them focus correctly; these are also not usually available on the NHS
Associated eye conditions
Some adults with severe short-sightedness and young children with untreated short-sightedness are more likely to develop other eye problems.
These can include:
a squint– a common childhood condition where the eyes point in different directions
a lazy eye – a childhood condition where the vision in one eye doesn’t develop properly
glaucoma– increased pressure inside the eyes
cataracts – where cloudy patches develop inside the lens of the eye
retinal detatchment – where the retina pulls away from the blood vessels that supply it with oxygen and nutrients
uSE IN VIRTUAL REALITY
Although it is a visual impairment, many people are familiar with short sightedness, more so when compared to other impairments such as Lazy Eye or Cataracts that have a more physical aspect to them as they show signs of impairment in the actual eye, whereas short sightedness does not. I will include information on short sightedness however will not be focussing on it completely as it is a very common condition that the majority of people already know about.
The RNIB is the Royal National Institute for the Blind. They provide help and support for the Visually Impaired. If I was to team up with an organisation to help promote Visual Impairments I feel that this would be a good one to use. They provide a range of services to the blind and those with visual impairments including:
A Helpline (0303 123 9999)
Reading Services
Business Services
eLearning Courses
RNIB Schools, Colleges and Residences
Learning Disability Services
Talking Books
Making services such as transport more accessible
Improving educational opportunities
Campaigning Sight Loss Issues
They are a leading source of information on sight loss and the issues affecting blind and partially sighted people.
Vivid Vision is a VR project used to treat amblyopia, strabismus, and convergence disorders.
There is a big difference between the clinical version and the home version. The clinical version is a set of tools and mini-games for eye doctors to assess and improve amblyopia and strabismus. It is more focused on assessment and short sessions (5-60 minutes) and lots of different mini games. The home version will be a full-length game with a story, something that you could really spend a lot of time playing. It will have less testing and assessment, and will be focused more using game mechanics to make it easy to spend the time needed to see changes in perception.
The two versions will share data, so a person can go into their local eye clinic, get assessed by their eye doctor, and learn the system under their supervision. They can then go home and do some of the games and assessments while their eye doctor can keep track of their progress using our cloud data service. The doctor still has oversight and can schedule tests and games remotely for use at home.
We want to give clinics more tools for their patients with lazy eye and expand the number of people who are getting vision care in clinics. We also know that there simply are not enough clinics to provide care to everyone who needs it in the world. This is why we will also be providing a simpler, automated, version for those for the millions who don’t have access to clinics. The research that they are doing has been seen as scientifically viable and is working.
What is amblyopia and strabismus?
Amblyopia, also known as lazy eye, is a vision development disorder in which an eye fails to achieve normal visual acuity, even with prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses. Amblyopia begins during infancy and early childhood. In most cases, only one eye is affected.
Strabismus, also called crossed eyes, is a condition in which the eyes do not properly align with each other when looking at an object. Which eye is focused on the object in question can switch. It may also be present occasionally or constantly.
How can you learn from any mistakes they made?
Their decision to use a clinical version and a home version is interesting as it is scientifically proven to work so it would have been thought that Vivid Vision would only be in use in clinical situations. I would do the same as Vivid Vision and open the market up so that the software can raise more awareness by being used by more people.
How does their product look and what do you “feel” when you use it?
The games are played using Oculus Rift and send specific images to each eye in an effort to train the lazy or crossed eye to work harder. Founder, Blaha explains “We’ll take specific objects in the virtual space and render them a lot brighter to the weak eye, and a lot dimmer to the strong eye. At a certain threshold, the brain kind of says, ‘OK, there’s something unique going on in this eye that I have to pay attention to,’ and it turns it back on.”
With my product, I want to be able to manipulate the display on the headset without putting too much strain on peoples eyes, but also showing what it is actually like to have some of the vision disorders.
Lazy Eye or Amblyopia is for vision in an eye that did not develop normal sight during early childhood. It is the most common cause of visual impairment amongst children, affecting 2-3 out of every 100 children. Unless it is successfully treated in early childhood, amblyopia usually persists into adulthood. It is also the most common cause of monocular (one eye) visual impairment among young and middle-aged adults.
When one eye develops good vision while the other does not, the eye with the poorer vision is called amblyopic. Usually, only one eye is affected by amblyopia, but it is possible for both eyes to be “lazy.” This condition is called bilateral amblyopia.
An example of vision with Amblyopia
Amblyopia in children and adults
Newborn infants are able to see, but as they use their eyes during the first months of life, their vision improves. During early childhood years, their visual system changes quickly and their sight continues to develop.
In order to have normal vision, it is important that both eyes develop equal vision. If a child has amblyopia and cannot use his or her eyes normally, vision does not develop properly and may even decrease. After the first nine years of life, the visual system is normally fully developed and usually cannot be changed.
If amblyopia treatment is not begun as early as possible, several problems can develop that can seriously affect vision from childhood into adulthood:
the amblyopic eye may develop a serious and permanent visual defect;
depth perception (seeing in three dimensions) may be lost, because good vision in both eyes is needed;
if the stronger eye becomes diseased or injured, it can mean a lifetime of poor vision.
People with amblyopia in one eye are more than twice as likely to lose vision in the healthy eye from trauma. If the vision in one eye should be lost later in life from an accident or illness, it is essential that the other eye have normal vision.
What is refractive (or anisometropic) amblyopia?
Refraction is when the eye focuses light onto the retina to form a visual image. A refractive error occurs when the light is not properly focused in the eye and vision is blurry. When a child has refractive, or anisometropic, amblyopia, it means he or she has a different amount of refractive error in each eye. When this is the case, the brain will use the better-seeing eye and essentially “turn off” vision from the weaker eye. At first, eyeglasses may help by correcting the refractive error in both eyes, allowing them to work equally together. Then the amblyopia may be further treated to help improve vision and depth perception.
Photographs from an MTI photoscreener demonstrating anisometropia.
Treatment
How is amblyopia treated in children?
Treating amblyopia involves forcing the child to use the eye with weaker vision. There are two common ways to treat amblyopia:
Patching
An adhesive patch is worn over the stronger eye for weeks to months. This therapy forces the child to use the eye with amblyopia. Patching stimulates vision in the weaker eye and helps parts of the brain involved in vision develop more completely.
Previously, eye care professionals thought that treating amblyopia would be of little benefit to older children. However, results from a nationwide clinical trial showed that many children from ages 7 to 17 years old benefited from treatment for amblyopia. This study shows that age alone should not be used as a factor to decide whether or not to treat a child for amblyopia.
A boy wearing a patch as part of his treatment.
Atropine
A drop of a drug called atropine is placed in the stronger eye to temporarily blur vision so that the child will use the eye with amblyopia, especially when focusing on near objects. NEI-supported research has shown that atropine eye drops, when placed in the unaffected eye once a day, work as well as eye patching. Atropine eye drops are sometimes easier for parents and children to use.
Can amblyopia be treated in adults?
Studies are very limited at this time, and scientists don’t know the success rate for treating amblyopia in adults. During the first seven to ten years of life, the visual system develops rapidly. Important connections between the eye and the brain are created during this period of growth and development. Scientists are exploring whether treatment for amblyopia in adults can improve vision.
Use in VR
I want to be able to use this information and implement it into the virtual reality simulation that I am creating. As well as using the quality of vision in the simulation I could also show a mirror and users can look at their own eyes, as both Amblyopia and Cataracts has physical changes to the eyes too. I feel this would be very impacting on the user as they won’t be used to having a physical impairment and it should impact them more when they see their own face with a lazy eye or cataracts. As well as this I think I should include facts and information throughout the simulation so there is extra information on the subject for the users.
Vivid Vision already runs a program with Virtual Reality to help to treat Amblyopia, I have chosen not to help treat the impairment, but to raise awareness for visual impairments through the use of a simulation in virtual reality.
