Seeing Colours: Addressing Colour Vision Deficiency with Vision Augmentations using Computational Glasses

Colour vision deficiency is a common visual impairment that cannot be compensated for using optical lenses in traditional glasses, and currently remains untreatable. In our work, we report on research on Computational Glasses for compensating colour vision deficiency. While existing research only showed corrected images within the periphery or as an indirect aid, Computational Glasses build on modified standard optical see-through head-mounted displays and directly modulate the user’s vision, consequently adapting their perception of colours. In this work, we present an exhaustive literature review of colour vision deficiency compensation and subsequent findings; several prototypes with varying advantages—from well-controlled bench prototypes to less controlled but higher application portable prototypes; and a series of studies evaluating our approach starting with proving its efficacy, comparing to the state-of-the-art, and extending beyond static lab prototypes looking at real world applicability. Finally, we evaluated directions for future compensation methods for computational glasses.

The Effects on Driving Behavior When Using a Head-mounted Display in a Dynamic Driving Simulator

Driving simulators are established tools used during automotive development and research. Most simulators use either monitors or projectors as their primary display system. However, the emergence of a new generation of head-mounted displays has triggered interest in using these as the primary display type. The general benefits and drawbacks of head-mounted displays are well researched, but their effect on driving behavior in a simulator has not been sufficiently quantified. This article presents a study of driving behavior differences between projector-based graphics and head-mounted display in a large dynamic driving simulator. This study has selected five specific driving maneuvers suspected of affecting driving behavior differently depending on the choice of display technology. Some of these maneuvers were chosen to reveal changes in lateral and longitudinal driving behavior. Others were picked for their ability to highlight the benefits and drawbacks of head-mounted displays in a driving context. The results show minor changes in lateral and longitudinal driver behavior changes when comparing projectors and a head-mounted display. The most noticeable difference in favor of projectors was seen when the display resolution is critical to the driving task. The choice of display type did not affect simulator sickness nor the realism rated by the subjects.

A Case for Studying Naturalistic Eye and Head Movements in Virtual Environments

Using head mounted displays (HMDs) in conjunction with virtual reality (VR), vision researchers are able to capture more naturalistic vision in an experimentally controlled setting. Namely, eye movements can be accurately tracked as they occur in concert with head movements as subjects navigate virtual environments. A benefit of this approach is that, unlike other mobile eye tracking (ET) set-ups in unconstrained settings, the experimenter has precise control over the location and timing of stimulus presentation, making it easier to compare findings between HMD studies and those that use monitor displays, which account for the bulk of previous work in eye movement research and vision sciences more generally. Here, a visual discrimination paradigm is presented as a proof of concept to demonstrate the applicability of collecting eye and head tracking data from an HMD in VR for vision research. The current work’s contribution is 3-fold: firstly, results demonstrating both the strengths and the weaknesses of recording and classifying eye and head tracking data in VR, secondly, a highly flexible graphical user interface (GUI) used to generate the current experiment, is offered to lower the software development start-up cost of future researchers transitioning to a VR space, and finally, the dataset analyzed here of behavioral, eye and head tracking data synchronized with environmental variables from a task specifically designed to elicit a variety of eye and head movements could be an asset in testing future eye movement classification algorithms.

Remote VR Studies: A Framework for Running Virtual Reality Studies Remotely Via Participant-Owned HMDs

We investigate opportunities and challenges of running virtual reality (VR) studies remotely. Today, many consumers own head-mounted displays (HMDs), allowing them to participate in scientific studies from their homes using their own equipment. Researchers can benefit from this approach by being able to recruit study populations normally out of their reach, and to conduct research at times when it is difficult to get people into the lab (cf. the COVID pandemic). In an initial online survey ( N = 227), we assessed HMD owners’ demographics, their VR setups and their attitudes toward remote participation. We then identified different approaches to running remote studies and conducted two case studies for an in-depth understanding. We synthesize our findings into a framework for remote VR studies, discuss strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches, and derive best practices. Our work is valuable for Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers conducting VR studies outside labs.

Differentiating Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Parkinson's Disease With Head-Mounted Displays

Background: Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a neurodegenerative disorder that, especially in the early stages of the disease, is clinically difficult to distinguish from Parkinson's disease (PD).Objective: This study aimed at assessing the use of eye-tracking in head-mounted displays (HMDs) for differentiating PSP and PD.Methods: Saccadic eye movements of 13 patients with PSP, 15 patients with PD, and a group of 16 healthy controls (HCs) were measured. To improve applicability in an inpatient setting and standardize the diagnosis, all the tests were conducted in a HMD. In addition, patients underwent atlas-based volumetric analysis of various brain regions based on high-resolution MRI.Results: Patients with PSP displayed unique abnormalities in vertical saccade velocity and saccade gain, while horizontal saccades were less affected. A novel diagnostic index was derived, multiplying the ratios of vertical to horizontal gain and velocity, allowing segregation of PSP from PD with high sensitivity (10/13, 77%) and specificity (14/15, 93%). As expected, patients with PSP as compared with patients with PD showed regional atrophy in midbrain volume, the midbrain plane, and the midbrain tegmentum plane. In addition, we found for the first time that oculomotor measures (vertical gain, velocity, and the diagnostic index) were correlated significantly to midbrain volume in the PSP group.Conclusions: Assessing eye movements in a HMD provides an easy to apply and highly standardized tool to differentiate PSP of patients from PD and HCs, which will aid in the diagnosis of PSP.

ALiS: Entwicklung einer Designtheorie für Augmented Living Spaces zur erweiterten Autonomie älterer und kognitiv eingeschränkter Menschen

ZusammenfassungDer Alltag älterer und kognitiv eingeschränkter Menschen kann mithilfe von informationstechnologischen Lösungen erheblich unterstützt werden. In diesem Kontext ist, wie unterschiedliche Ansätze bereits zeigen, der Einsatz von Augmented Reality für viele Einsatzszenarien eine vielversprechende Lösung. Jedoch stellen die üblicherweise genutzten Head-Mounted-Displays eine technische Hürde dar und können nicht ausnahmslos von allen Personen getragen werden. Als alternativen Lösungsansatz entwickelt der vorliegende Beitrag einen Augmented Living Space (ALiS). Dieser nutzt anstatt Headsets oder anderen tragbaren Geräten Spatial Augmented Reality, welche bspw. durch Beamer und Lautsprecher implementiert wird. Damit können individuelle, bedürfnisorientierte Funktionen ergonomisch und dennoch immersiv bereitgestellt werden. Hierdurch sollen betroffene Menschen befähigt werden, länger autonom leben zu können, ohne dabei auf tragbare Technik angewiesen zu sein. Ein ALiS gewährt dabei insbesondere eine nutzerzentrierte Unterstützung in den Bereichen der Wahrnehmung, Mobilität, Organisation sowie Medizin und ermöglicht die Herausforderungen des Alltags leichter zu bewältigen. Spatial Augmented Reality ist aktuell ein nur wenig erforschter Ansatz und wird vornehmlich in der Produktion eingesetzt. Daher werden in diesem Beitrag Designanforderungen, Designprinzipien und Design-Features einer Designtheorie formuliert, anhand derer zukünftig ein ALiS für ältere und kognitiv eingeschränkte Menschen mithilfe von Spatial Augmented Reality zielführend gestaltet und eingesetzt werden kann. Zur Definition der nutzerspezifischen und technischen Anforderungen wurde eine zweistufige strukturierte Literaturanalyse sowie eine moderierte Fokusgruppe mit Expert*innen und Anwender*innen durchgeführt. Die entwickelte Designtheorie besteht aus 3 Designanforderungen, 8 Designprinzipien sowie 13 Design-Features und bildet die Grundlage für die Entwicklung eines ALiS-Prototypen. Die wahrgenommene Nützlichkeit der Designtheorie für die Entwicklung eines ALiS wurde durch eine Befragung von Augmented Reality- und Workflow-Management-Experten positiv evaluiert.

VR Pedestrian Simulator Studies at Home: Comparing Google Cardboards to Simulators in the Lab and Reality

Virtual Reality is commonly applied as a tool for analyzing pedestrian behavior in a safe and controllable environment. Most such studies use high-end hardware such as Cave Automatic Virtual Environments (CAVEs), although, more recently, consumer-grade head-mounted displays have also been used to present these virtual environments. The aim of this study is first of all to evaluate the suitability of a Google Cardboard as low-cost alternative, and then to test subjects in their home environment. Testing in a remote setting would ultimately allow more diverse subject samples to be recruited, while also facilitating experiments in different regions, for example, investigations of cultural differences. A total of 60 subjects (30 female and 30 male) were provided with a Google Cardboard. Half of the sample performed the experiment in a laboratory at the university, the other half at home without an experimenter present. The participants were instructed to install a mobile application to their smartphones, which guided them through the experiment, contained all the necessary questionnaires, and presented the virtual environment in conjunction with the Cardboard. In the virtual environment, the participants stood at the edge of a straight road, on which two vehicles approached with gaps of 1–5 s and at speeds of either 30 or 50 km/h. Participants were asked to press a button to indicate whether they considered the gap large enough to be able to cross safely. Gap acceptance and the time between the first vehicle passing and the button being pressed were recorded and compared with data taken from other simulators and from a real-world setting on a test track. A Bayesian approach was used to analyze the data. Overall, the results were similar to those obtained with the other simulators. The differences between the two Cardboard test conditions were marginal, but equivalence could not be demonstrated with the evaluation method used. It is worth mentioning, however, that in the home setting with no experimenter present, significantly more data points had to be treated or excluded from the analysis.