Understanding Low Vision People's Visual Perception on Commercial Augmented Reality Glasses

While being able to read with screen magnifiers, low vision people have slow and unpleasant reading experiences. Eye tracking has the potential to improve their experience by recognizing fine-grained gaze behaviors and providing more targeted enhancements. To inspire gaze-based low vision technology, we investigate the suitable method to collect low vision users’ gaze data via commercial eye trackers and thoroughly explore their challenges in reading based on their gaze behaviors. With an improved calibration interface, we collected the gaze data of 20 low vision participants and 20 sighted controls who performed reading tasks on a computer screen; low vision participants were also asked to read with different screen magnifiers. We found that, with an accessible calibration interface and data collection method, commercial eye trackers can collect gaze data of comparable quality from low vision and sighted people. Our study identified low vision people’s unique gaze patterns during reading, building upon which, we propose design implications for gaze-based low vision technology.

While our community has many active projects involving blind people, low vision is rarely addressed. People with low vision have functional vision, but their visual impairment adversely affects their daily life and it cannot be corrected with glasses or contact lenses. Over the last few years, we have been conducting research with this understudied demographic: understanding low vision people's needs and designing applications to address the challenges they face. In this article, we discuss our ongoing research in this area, focusing on designing augmented reality applications for low vision users. We begin this article by describing low vision and motivating our focus on augmented reality applications on smartglasses for low vision people. We then provide overviews of three research projects that exemplify our research agenda: a study where we observed low vision people conducting a navigation and shopping task, a study where we examined low vision people's perception of virtual text and shapes on smartglasses, and the design of a smartglasses application that facilitates a visual search task.

Blind and low vision people use visual description services (VDS) to gain visual interpretation and build access in a world that privileges sight. Despite their many benefits, VDS have many harmful privacy and security implications. As a result, researchers are suggesting, exploring, and building obfuscation systems that detect and obscure private or sensitive materials. However, as obfuscation depends largely on sight to interpret outcomes, it is unknown whether Blind and low vision people would find such approaches useful. Our work aims to center the perspectives and opinions of Blind and low vision people on the potential of obfuscation to address privacy concerns in VDS. By reporting on interviews with 20 Blind and low vision people who use VDS, our findings reveal that popular research trends in obfuscation fail to capture the needs of Blind and low vision people. While obfuscation might be helpful in gaining more control, tensions around obfuscation misrecognition and confirmation are prominent. We turn to the framework of interdependence to unpack and understand obfuscation in VDS, enabling us to complicate privacy concerns, uncover the labor of Blind and low vision people, and emphasize the importance of safeguards. We provide design directions to move the trajectory of obfuscation research forward.

Recent advances in smart glasses technologies bare tremendous potential for people with low vision. In particular, the use of optical-see through smart glasses has been gaining momentum in the field. We examined how these devices are perceived by low vision people and factors that might influence their wide-scale adoption. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 29 low vision participants. We asked participants about desired functionalities, aesthetics (including wearing in public versus in private), preferred interaction mode, and willingness to carry support devices for increased functionality. We found that the majority of participants in this study preferred a compact device that looks most similar to a normal pair of glasses, preferred buttons as an inconspicuous mode of interaction, and are willing to carry support devices up to the size of a tablet to increase the functionality of the device. Our results underscore the importance of striking a balance between functionality and aspects such as inconspicuousness in terms of both aesthetics and device interaction, and inform further development of this promising technology.

Low vision is a visual impairment that cannot be corrected with eyeglasses or contact lenses. Low vision people have functional vision and prefer using that vision instead of relying on audition and touch. Existing approaches to low vision accessibility enhance people's vision using simple "signal-to-signal" techniques that do not take into account the user's context. There is thus a major gap between low vision people's needs and existing low vision technologies. My doctorial research aims to address this gap by augmenting low vision people's visual experience with direct and optimal visual feedback based on the user's context. I will design and study novel methods for visual augmentation , which involves visual feedback beyond simple enhancements. My research considers two dimensions: visual condition and task. By understanding the visual perception of people with different visual abilities and exploring their needs in different visual tasks, I will design applications with visual feedback that is optimal for specific context to maximize people's access to information. My research will yield design insights and novel applications for people with all visual abilities.

Augmented reality (AR) applications have been shown to improve accessibility for people with low vision by enhancing the visibility of surrounding objects. Yet, prior studies mostly examined controlled settings and often focused on developing solutions for specific functional challenges. A human remote assistant powered with AR capabilities may provide a flexible solution that addresses a variety of scenarios. To examine how AR-based remote assistance can help low-vision people in real-world settings, we examined the scenario of visiting a museum, which requires coping with a variety of tasks, from navigating between museum rooms to the accessibility of museum exhibits. We conducted a qualitative user study at an archeological museum with 11 low-vision participants who toured a predefined path while receiving real-time auditory explanations and AR annotations from a remote assistant. Our results reveal that the AR-based remote assistance improved the museum experience, assisting in mobility within the museum and the visibility of artifacts. The use of remote assistance proved to be dynamic and flexible, enabling real-time in-place annotations that helped guide low-vision participants, providing a stronger feeling of security. While acknowledging the transformative potential, participants highlighted challenges in accuracy and responsiveness, emphasizing the need to improve the design of real-time AR annotations. Our study is the first to examine the use of AR remote assistance in meeting the dynamic and diverse needs of people with low vision, illustrating both its potential and the challenges for this population.

Gait is an individual's walking pattern, and it is a significant part of daily living activities. Quantitative gait assessments, like spatiotemporal parameters (STPs), are related to the functional conditions to provide useful information. This study reviewed the comprehensive differences in spatiotemporal gait variability measures between visually impaired people and the sighted. The search strategy was performed in three databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus) from the start date to October 2022, and the utilized keywords for this search are related to gait and blindness. This review considered only those studies that evaluated gait parameters in people with visual impairment and blind people without any limitations in age and gender. In this review, studies without a control group (sighted people) were excluded. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was applied for critical appraisal. Six full manuscripts were included. The sample size ranged from 19 to 91. The mean modified NOS critical appraisal scores for cross-sectional studies were 6.0. In these studies, among nine STPs: stride length, walking speed, stance and swing phase, step width, cadence, step length, double support, and single support, at least five and at most seven factors were examined. The gait pattern of blind and low-vision people is characterized by a slower walking speed, shorter stride length, increased step width, decreased cadence, prolonged duration of double support, and reduced single support compared to the controls.

Low vision is a visual impairment that falls short of blindness but cannot be corrected by eyeglasses or contact lenses. While current low vision aids (e.g., magnifier, CCTV) support basic vision enhancements, such as magnification and contrast enhancement, these enhancements often arbitrarily alter a user's full field of view without considering the user's context, such as their visual abilities, tasks, and environmental factors. As a result, these low vision aids are not sufficient or preferred by low vision users in many important tasks. Augmented reality (AR) technology presents a unique opportunity to enhance low vision people's visual experience by automatically recognizing the surrounding environment and presenting tailored visual augmentations. In this talk, I will talk about how we design and build intelligent AR systems to support low vision people in visual tasks, such as a head-mounted AR system that presents visual cues to orient users' attention in a visual search task, as well as a projection-based AR system that projects visual highlights on the stair edges to support safe stair navigation. I will conclude my talk by discussing our future research direction on AR for low vision accessibility.

As social VR applications grow in popularity, blind and low vision users encounter continued accessibility barriers. Yet social VR, which enables multiple people to engage in the same virtual space, presents a unique opportunity to allow other people to support a user’s access needs. To explore this opportunity, we designed a framework based on physical sighted guidance that enables a guide to support a blind or low vision user with navigation and visual interpretation. A user can virtually hold on to their guide and move with them, while the guide can describe the environment. We studied the use of our framework with 16 blind and low vision participants and found that they had a wide range of preferences. For example, we found that participants wanted to use their guide to support social interactions and establish a human connection with a human-appearing guide. We also highlight opportunities for novel guidance abilities in VR, such as dynamically altering an inaccessible environment. Through this work, we open a novel design space for a versatile approach for making VR fully accessible.

Background: Approximately 250,000 visually impaired people were registered in Korea in 2021, and eye diseases are often accompanied by various systemic diseases. This study aims to investigate the epidemiology, causative disease, and rehabilitation treatment for visually impaired and low-vision patients.Current Concepts: Visual impairment ranges from blindness in one eye to total blindness. Low vision refers to the visual acuity of 0.3 to 0.05 in the better eye, and the visual field is narrowed to less than 10 degrees. The common causes of visual impairment eye disorders include macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic maculopathy, retinitis pigmentosa, and congenital diseases. Among them, macular degeneration has been increasing significantly in recent years. If the disability is not changed, it is difficult to improve vision through treatment. The aim of treatment should be to retain the remaining visual function through the low vision aids for the visually impaired person.Discussion and Conclusion: Although various visual aids are being distributed, medical insurance coverage does not align with the need for improvement. Like other disabilities, multidisciplinary approaches to the visually impaired people are necessary. In addition, awareness of low vision should be improved so that there are no visually impaired and low vision people who are placed in a blind spot and suffer inconvenience.

Blind and low vision (BLV) people face challenges in accessing charts, often relying on assistive technologies with limited interactivity. This paper presents the design process of a tangible companion supporting data literacy for BLV people. Building on semi-structured interviews with five blind and six low vision participants and a review of current tools, we conducted a Story/Test/Story protocol with a low vision participant experienced in data representation. We compared a screen-magnified bar chart with two tactile probes: (1) a unit-based cardboard bar chart and (2) a static 3D bar sculpture, using a univariate public dataset. Insights from these activities informed the ideation of the Data Fidget, a prototype that communicates data through movement, expanding when values increase and contracting when they decrease, complementing existing assistive technologies. Future work will refine and test the Data Fidget with more BLV participants, contributing to an ecosystem of tactile and intuitive data engagement tools.

Visual impairments encompass a range of visual abilities. People with low vision have functional vision and thus their experiences are likely to be different from people with no vision. We sought to answer two research questions: (1) what challenges do low vision people face when performing daily activities and (2) what aids (high- and low-tech) do low vision people use to alleviate these challenges? Our goal was to reveal gaps in current technologies that can be addressed by the UbiComp community. Using contextual inquiry, we observed 11 low vision people perform a wayfinding and shopping task in an unfamiliar environment. The task involved wayfinding and searching and purchasing a product. We found that, although there are low vision aids on the market, participants mostly used their smartphones, despite interface accessibility challenges. While smartphones helped them outdoors, participants were overwhelmed and frustrated when shopping in a store. We discuss the inadequacies of existing aids and highlight the need for systems that enhance visual information, rather than convert it to audio or tactile.

Background Outdoor navigation poses significant challenges for people with blindness or low vision, yet the role of gaze behaviour in supporting mobility remains underexplored. Fully sighted individuals typically adopt consistent scanning strategies, whereas those with visual impairments rely on heterogeneous adaptations shaped by residual vision and experience. Methods We conducted a comparative eye-tracking study of fully sighted, low vision, blind, and fully blind participants navigating outdoor routes. Using a wearable eye tracker, we quantified fixation counts, fixation rate, fixation area, direction, peak fixation location, and walking speed. Results Walking speed declined systematically with worsening vision. Fixation count increased with greater impairment, reflecting slower travel times and more frequent sampling. Fixation rate differed across groups, though between-group differences were generally not significant between most groups. Fixation spatial coverage decreased along the continuum of vision loss. Fixation patterns were most consistent in the fully sighted group. Peak fixation locations were centred in fully sighted participants but shifted outward and became more variable with impairment. Conclusion Gaze strategies during navigation form a graded continuum across vision groups, with fully sighted and fully blind participants at opposite poles and low vision and blind groups spanning the middle. Visual acuity alone does not predict functional gaze use, as rehabilitation experience and adaptive strategies strongly shape behaviour. These findings highlight the need for personalised rehabilitation and assistive technologies, with residual gaze patterns offering insight into mobility capacity and training opportunities for safer navigation. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Distinct Residual Vision Patterns: This research reveals that residual vision patterns differ significantly, with fully sighted individuals exhibiting a consistent fixation pattern while low vision participants show more varied strategies during navigation. Highly Individualised Gaze Behaviours: Low vision participants demonstrate highly individualised gaze behaviours, indicating that a one-size-fits-all approach is inadequate for effective rehabilitation. Tailored Assistive Solutions: Assistive technologies and rehabilitation programs should be designed to address these unique, individualised needs, providing personalised feedback and training to enhance mobility and safety.

Vision problem is affecting many Americans today. While there are several pioneering studies that examine computer input tasks performed by people with low vision, most focus on aggregate measures of performance, such as total task time. To provide a more detailed analysis of low vision user performance, we captured kinematics of pointing movements with the goal of determining the effect of low vision on the process of the movement. Ten participants were recruited to form a sighted and a low vision group. After controlling for the effects of age and psychomotor ability, differences in movement performance and kinematics between the two groups were compared. As expected, longer movement times were observed among low vision participants. When the movement was parsed into primary (i.e., initial phase) and secondary (i.e., homing phase) submovements, the kinematics of the primary submovement were similar for the two groups. However, low vision participants were found to spend more time in the secondary submovement. The effect of visual condition was amplified when a low vision participant had to move the cursor over longer distances. These findings suggest that for computing tasks requiring mouse-mediated pointing, task improvements focused on the secondary movement (i.e. homing phase) would benefit low vision users. Improving performance during homing phase could result in the overall improvement of performance. These results could also be useful to guide the development of adaptive and individualized assistive technology to assist users acquire intended targets. These results could also be useful to guide the development of adaptive and individualized assistive technology to assist users acquire intended targets.

People with low vision experience reduced mobility that affects their physical and mental wellbeing. With augmented reality (AR) glasses, there are new opportunities to provide visual and auditory information that can improve mobility for this vulnerable group. Current research into AR-based mobility aids has focused mainly on the technical aspects, and less emphasis has been placed on understanding the usability and suitability of these aids in people with various levels of visual impairment. In this paper, we present the results of qualitative interviews with 18 participants using HoloLens v1 and eight prototype augmentations to understand how these enhancements are perceived by people with low vision and how these aids should be adjusted to suit their needs. Our results suggested that participants with moderate vision loss could potentially perceive the most benefit from glasses and underlined the importance of extensive customizability to accommodate the needs of a highly varied low vision population.