Central visual field loss, caused by macular degeneration and other disorders, is the leading cause of legal blindness in the United States. Central vision loss greatly interferes with many visual tasks such as reading.
The research aim i s to provide empirical evidence regarding the potential for use of oculomotor auditory feedback to mitigate the deleterious effects of central field loss. This research will train adults with macular degeneration to engage in eccentric viewing, using eye position information obtained visually and through auditory feedback. Using an ABA experimental design, each member of this experimental and a (normally sighted) control group will take part in one pre-training assessment session (A), six training sessions (B), and one post-training assessment session (A). Fixational stability, pursuit and saccadic tracking are two of the central field loss eye movement deficits which may be predicted to improve using the technique. If successful and applied clinically, many health-related benefits in daily life could result. Biofeedback-mediated improvements in fixation/refixation abilities in adults with central field loss may be predicted to augment reading speed/accuracy, indoor and/or outdoor mobility, techniques of daily living, and/or social interactions. This investigation is prerequisite to major experimental attempts to use oculomotor auditory biofeedback in eccentric viewing training to improve reading speed and/or error rates, and to evaluate long-term retention of any improvements. Depending on the research outcomes, such efforts would be a logical next step in reducing impairment from central vision loss.
