Abstract
Presentation Description :
Visual scanning by sighted individuals is achieved using eye and head movements. Conversely, scanning the line-of-sight of the serval prosthesis devices is achieved by head movements alone and eye movements can introduce localization errors. Our research study demonstrated that a scanning mode utilizing eye movements enhances the performance of visual prosthesis. In the lecture, we will present and discuss the technical challenges, and specifically, how to calibrate an eye tracker for blind users.
The integration of an eye tracker in the visual prosthesis allows the measurement of gaze position in real-time to adjust the region of interest (ROI) that is sent to the implant within the wide field of view (FOV) of the scene camera. The user will be able to to use combined eye-head scanning: shifting the camera by moving their head and shifting the ROI within the FOV by eye movement. Because traditional eye tracker calibration methods require direct fixation at points in space this method cannot be used in the blind. We demonstrated that correlating the pupil location at the onset of the stimulation with the head-centered percept location can calibrate and align the eye tracker on Argus II users. Our experimental results show that integrating a calibrated eye tracker reduces the amount of head motion and improves visual stability in Argus II users.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.