Accommodation Cues Research Articles

The Interaction between Vergence and Accommodation Cues in the Assessment of Fusional Vergence Range.

Fusional vergence range tests are commonly used in optometric practice. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible contribution of CA/C, AC/A, and proximal cues (PCT) to the magnitude and presence of blur and recovery during the measurement of fusional vergence ranges and to determine whether the occurrence of blur is influenced by these vergence and accommodation cues. A total of 27 participants with normal binocular vision were included and AC/A, CA/C, and PCT ratios were evaluated. Blur, break, and recovery values in convergence and divergence were assessed with base-out and base-in prisms, respectively. No statistical correlations were found between AC/A, CA/C, and PCT ratios and the magnitude of blur, break, and recovery values in neither far, near, convergence, nor divergence testing conditions. However, better near point of convergence values were related to higher break values in convergence at far distances, but not at near distances. In addition, for convergence and far distance, a statistical difference was found between groups reporting and not reporting blur in AC/A stimulus and PCT ratios. The present results cannot confirm whether vergence and accommodation cues, such as AC/A, CA/C, and PCT ratios, may play an active role during the assessment of fusional vergence range.

Enlarged Eye-Box Accommodation-Capable Augmented Reality with Hologram Replicas.

Augmented reality (AR) technology has been widely applied across a variety of fields, with head-up displays (HUDs) being one of its prominent uses, offering immersive three-dimensional (3D) experiences and interaction with digital content and the real world. AR-HUDs face challenges such as limited field of view (FOV), small eye-box, bulky form factor, and absence of accommodation cue, often compromising trade-offs between these factors. Recently, optical waveguide based on pupil replication process has attracted increasing attention as an optical element for its compact form factor and exit-pupil expansion. Despite these advantages, current waveguide displays struggle to integrate visual information with real scenes because they do not produce accommodation-capable virtual content. In this paper, we introduce a lensless accommodation-capable holographic system based on a waveguide. Our system aims to expand the eye-box at the optimal viewing distance that provides the maximum FOV. We devised a formalized CGH algorithm based on bold assumption and two constraints and successfully performed numerical observation simulation. In optical experiments, accommodation-capable images with a maximum horizontal FOV of 7.0 degrees were successfully observed within an expanded eye-box of 9.18 mm at an optimal observation distance of 112 mm.

Retinal projection display with realistic accommodation cue

Although retinal projection displays have the feature of being always in focus and no loss of image resolution, the lack of accommodation cue makes it difficult to perceive the depth correctly. In this paper, we proposed a retinal projection display system with realistic accommodation cue. The proposed system adds an optometric device to the conventional holographic optical element (HOE)-based retinal projection display. The optometric device detects the accommodation response of the human eyes to observe a real scene at different distances. According to the focused depth of the human eye, refocused images containing realistic focusing and defocusing information are generated through the light field refocusing technology. By establishing a focus depth-lookup table, the refocused images matching with the focused depth of human eye was presented to the human eye, so as to restore the retinal projection display with realistic accommodation cue. A proof-of-concept prototype based on the proposed structure was developed, and the experimental results presented retinal projection displays with realistic accommodation cue at a depth between 250 mm and 400 mm. The proposed system retains the characteristics of high resolution and free focusing while adding the accommodation cue. The developed prototype has great competitiveness in near-eye displays.

Ocular accommodation and wavelength: The effect of longitudinal chromatic aberration on the stimulus-response curve.

The longitudinal chromatic aberration (LCA) of the eye creates a chromatic blur on the retina that is an important cue for accommodation. Although this mechanism can work optimally in broadband illuminants such as daylight, it is not clear how the system responds to the narrowband illuminants used by many modern displays. Here, we measured pupil and accommodative responses as well as visual acuity under narrowband light-emitting diode (LED) illuminants of different peak wavelengths. Observers were able to accommodate under narrowband light and compensate for the LCA of the eye, with no difference in the variability of the steady-state accommodation response between narrowband and broadband illuminants. Intriguingly, our subjects compensated more fully for LCA at nearer distances. That is, the difference in accommodation to different wavelengths became larger when the object was placed nearer the observer, causing the slope of the accommodation response curve to become shallower for shorter wavelengths and steeper for longer ones. Within the accommodative range of observers, accommodative errors were small and visual acuity normal. When comparing between illuminants, when accommodation was accurate, visual acuity was worst for blue narrowband light. This cannot be due to the sparser spacing for S-cones, as our stimuli had equal luminance and thus activated LM-cones roughly equally. It is likely because ocular LCA changes more rapidly at shorter wavelength and so the finite spectral bandwidth of LEDs corresponds to a greater dioptric range at shorter wavelengths. This effect disappears for larger accommodative errors, due to the increased depth of focus of the eye.

Multisource Holography

Holographic displays promise several benefits including high quality 3D imagery, accurate accommodation cues, and compact form-factors. However, holography relies on coherent illumination which can create undesirable speckle noise in the final image. Although smooth phase holograms can be speckle-free, their non-uniform eyebox makes them impractical, and speckle mitigation with partially coherent sources also reduces resolution. Averaging sequential frames for speckle reduction requires high speed modulators and consumes temporal bandwidth that may be needed elsewhere in the system. In this work, we propose multisource holography, a novel architecture that uses an array of sources to suppress speckle in a single frame without sacrificing resolution. By using two spatial light modulators, arranged sequentially, each source in the array can be controlled almost independently to create a version of the target content with different speckle. Speckle is then suppressed when the contributions from the multiple sources are averaged at the image plane. We introduce an algorithm to calculate multisource holograms, analyze the design space, and demonstrate up to a 10 dB increase in peak signal-to-noise ratio compared to an equivalent single source system. Finally, we validate the concept with a benchtop experimental prototype by producing both 2D images and focal stacks with natural defocus cues.

7.2: Invited Paper: Vari‐focal Near‐eye Displays Based on Geometry Phase Liquid Crystal Lenses

The development of metaverse has the potential to revolutionize people's life. As the entry to metaverse, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies are gaining ever‐increasing attention. However, there is vergence‐accommodation conflict problem for most VR or AR 3D displays. In this paper, we propose to realize vari‐focal near‐eye displays based on tunable geometry phase liquid crystal lenses to address this problem. Experimental results validate that images can be rendered at different depth as the tunable lenses change their focal lengths. Thus, correct accommodation cue can be induced, and 3D visual fatigue could be significantly suppressed.

Vergence and Accommodation Cues in Stereo-Localization during the Small-In Large-Out (SILO) Effect.

A typical procedure in vision therapy is the use of Quoits vectograms to train fusional vergence ranges by improving stereo-localization, which is the ability to correctly locate the target stimulus in space. With this procedure, the Small-In Large-Out (SILO) effect is usually reported in patients with normal binocular vision and accommodation. In this study, the influence of vergence and accommodation cues, as determined with the accommodative-convergence over accommodation (AC/A) ratio, to correctly locate the Quoits vectograms in space was investigated. Twenty participants, aged 29.2 ± 2.8 (mean ± standard deviation) years, without amblyopia or strabismus, were recruited. A geometrical formula was obtained to calculate the theoretical distance to the target stimulus for different vergence demands. Theoretical values were compared with measured distances to the perceived stimuli and stereo-localization accuracy was determined. Stereo-localization accuracy was significantly worse at 10∆ Base In vergence demand (p < 0.001). A statistically significant positive correlation was found between AC/A ratio and stereo-localization accuracy (i.e., worse accuracy) at 10Δ Base Out vergence demand (rho = 0.446, p = 0.049). These findings highlight that AC/A ratio may be a secondary cue for stereo-localization when using vectograms in which the SILO effect is manifest. These results assist in the understanding of the physiological basis of vision therapy procedures.

Accommodative holography

Holographic displays have gained unprecedented attention as next-generation virtual and augmented reality applications with recent achievements in the realization of a high-contrast image through computer-generated holograms (CGHs). However, these holograms show a high energy concentration in a limited angular spectrum, whereas the holograms with uniformly distributed angular spectrum suffer from a severe speckle noise in the reconstructed images. In this study, we claim that these two physical phenomena attributed to the existing CGHs significantly limit the support of accommodation cues, which is known as one of the biggest advantages of holographic displays. To support the statement, we analyze and evaluate various CGH algorithms with contrast gradients - a change of contrast over the change of the focal diopter of the eye - simulated based on the optical configuration of the display system and human visual perception models. We first introduce two approaches to improve monocular accommodation response in holographic viewing experience; optical and computational approaches to provide holographic images with sufficient contrast gradients. We design and conduct user experiments with our prototype of holographic near-eye displays, validating the deficient support of accommodation cues in the existing CGH algorithms and demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed solutions with significant improvements on accommodative gains.

Familiar size affects the perceived size and distance of real objects even with binocular vision.

Although the familiar size of real-world objects affects size and distance perception, evidence is mixed about whether this is the case when oculomotor cues are available. We examined the familiar size effect (FSE) on both size and distance perception for real objects under two viewing conditions with full or restricted oculomotor cues (binocular viewing, which provides vergence and accommodation cues, and monocular viewing through a 1-mm pinhole, which removes those cues). Familiar objects (a playing die versus a Rubik's cube) were manufactured in their typical (1.6-cm die and 5.7-cm Rubik's cube) and reverse (5.7-cm die and 1.6-cm Rubik's cube) sizes and shown at two distances (25 cm versus 91 cm) in isolation. Small near and large far objects subtended equal retinal angles. Participants provided manual estimates of perceived size and distance. For every combination of size and distance, Rubik's cubes were perceived as larger and farther than the dice, even during binocular viewing at near distances (<1 meter), when oculomotor cues are particularly strong. For size perception but not distance perception, the familiar size effect was significantly stronger under monocular pinhole viewing than binocular viewing. These results suggest that (1) familiar size affects the accuracy of perception, not just the speed; (2) the effect occurs even when oculomotor cues are available; and (3) size and distance perception are not perfectly yoked.

Large‐Scale Huygens’ Metasurfaces for Holographic 3D Near‐Eye Displays

AbstractNovel display technologies aim at providing users with increasingly immersive experiences. It is a long‐sought dream to generate three‐dimensional (3D) scenes with high resolution and continuous depth, which can be overlaid with the real world. Current attempts, however, fail in providing either truly 3D information, or large viewing area and angle, strongly limiting the user immersion. Here, a proof‐of‐concept solution for this problem is developed. A compact holographic 3D near‐eye display with a large exit pupil of 10 mm × 8.66 mm is realized. The 3D image is generated from a highly transparent Huygens’ metasurface hologram with large (&gt;108) pixel count and subwavelength pixels, fabricated via deep‐ultraviolet immersion photolithography on 300 mm glass wafers. High‐quality virtual 3D scenes with ∼50k active data points and continuous depth ranging from 0.5 to 2 m, overlaid with the real world and easily viewed by naked eye are experimentally demonstrated. A new design method for holographic near‐eye displays is introduced that is able to provide both parallax and accommodation cues, solving the vergence–accommodation conflict existing in current 3D displays. Additionally, the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatible, industry‐grade fabrication technology employed opens new avenues for the large‐scale, mass manufacturing of metasurfaces.

Distortion corrected tomographic near-eye displays using light field optimization.

Several multifocal displays have been proposed to provide accurate accommodation cues. However, multifocal displays have an undesirable feature, which is especially emphasized in near-eye displays configuration, that the field of views (FOVs) of the virtual planes change over depth. We demonstrate that this change in FOV causes image distortions, which reduces overall image quality, and depth perception error due to the variation of image sizes according to depths. Here, we introduce a light field optimization technique to compensate for magnification variations among the focal planes. Our approach alleviates image distortions, especially noticeable in the contents with large depth discontinuity, and reconstructs the image size to precise depths, while maintaining a specific tolerance length for the target eye relief. To verify the feasibility of the algorithm, we employ this optimization method for the tomographic near-eye display system to acquire the optimal image and backlight sequences for a volumetric scene. In general, we confirm that the structural similarity index measure of reconstructed images against ground truth increases by 20% when the eye relief is 15mm, and the accommodation cue is appropriately stimulated at the target depth with our proposed method.

Wheel Screen Type Lamina 3D Display System with Enhanced Resolution

We propose a wheel screen type Lamina 3D display, which realizes a 3D image that can satisfy the accommodation cue by projecting volumetric images encoded by varying polarization states to a multi-layered screen. The proposed system is composed of two parts: an encoding part that converts depth information to states of polarization and a decoding part that projects depth images to the corresponded diffusing layer. Though the basic principle of Lamina displays has already been verified by previous studies, those schemes suffered from a bottleneck of inferior resolution of the 3D image due to the blurring on the surfaces of diffusing layers in the stacked volume. In this paper, we propose a new structure to implement the decoding part by adopting a form of the wheel screen. Experimental verification is also provided to support the proposed principle.

3D Augmented Reality Streaming System Based on a Lamina Display

We propose a three-dimensional (3D) streaming system based on a lamina display that can convey field information in real-time by creating floating 3D images that can satisfy the accommodation cue. The proposed system is mainly composed of three parts, namely: a 3D vision camera unit to obtain and provide RGB and depth data in real-time, a 3D image engine unit to realize the 3D volume with a fast response time by using the RGB and depth data, and an optical floating unit to bring the implemented 3D image out of the system and consequently increase the sense of presence. Furthermore, we devise the streaming method required for implementing augmented reality (AR) images by using a multilayered image, and the proposed method for implementing AR 3D video in real-time non-face-to-face communication has been experimentally verified.

Enhancing Angular Resolution of Layered Light-Field Display by Using Monochrome Layers

A layered light-field display is composed of several liquid crystal layers located in front of a backlight. The light rays emitted from the backlight intersect with different pixels on the layers depending on the outgoing directions. Therefore, this display can show multi-view images (a light field) in accordance with the viewing direction. This type of displays can also be used for head-mounted displays (HMDs) thanks to its dense angular resolution. The angular resolution is an important factor, because sufficiently dense angular resolution can provide accommodation cues, preventing visual discomfort caused by vergence accommodation conflict. To further enhance the angular resolution of a layered display, we propose to replace some of the layers with monochrome layers. While keeping the pixel size unchanged, our method can achieve three times higher resolution than baseline architecture in the horizontal direction. To obtain a set of color and monochrome layer patterns for a target light field, we developed two computation methods based on non-negative tensor factorization and a convolutional neural network, respectively.

Towards occlusion-aware multifocal displays

The human visual system uses numerous cues for depth perception, including disparity, accommodation, motion parallax and occlusion. It is incumbent upon virtual-reality displays to satisfy these cues to provide an immersive user experience. Multifocal displays, one of the classic approaches to satisfy the accommodation cue, place virtual content at multiple focal planes, each at a different depth. However, the content on focal planes close to the eye do not occlude those farther away; this deteriorates the occlusion cue as well as reduces contrast at depth discontinuities due to leakage of the defocus blur. This paper enables occlusion-aware multifocal displays using a novel ConeTilt operator that provides an additional degree of freedom --- tilting the light cone emitted at each pixel of the display panel. We show that, for scenes with relatively simple occlusion configurations, tilting the light cones provides the same effect as physical occlusion. We demonstrate that ConeTilt can be easily implemented by a phase-only spatial light modulator. Using a lab prototype, we show results that demonstrate the presence of occlusion cues and the increased contrast of the display at depth edges.

Optimal binary representation via non-convex optimization on tomographic displays.

There have been many recent developments in 3D display technology to provide correct accommodation cues over an extended focus range. To this end, those displays rely on scene decomposition algorithms to reproduce accurate occlusion boundaries as well asretinal defocus blur. Recently, tomographic displays have been proposed with improved trade-offs of focus range, spatial resolution, and exit-pupil. The advantage of the system partly stems from a high-speed backlight modulation system based on a digital micromirror device, which only supports 1-bit images. However, its inherent binary constraint hinders achieving the optimal scene decomposition, thus leaving boundary artifacts. In this work, we present a technique for synthesizing optimal imagery of general 3D scenes with occlusion on tomographic displays. Requiring no prior knowledge of the scene geometry, our technique addresses the blending issue via non-convex optimization, inspired by recent studies in discrete tomography. Also, we present a general framework for this rendering algorithm and demonstrate the utility of the technique for volumetric display systems with binary representation.

Foveated AR

We present a near-eye augmented reality display with resolution and focal depth dynamically driven by gaze tracking. The display combines a traveling microdisplay relayed off a concave half-mirror magnifier for the high-resolution foveal region, with a wide field-of-view peripheral display using a projector-based Maxwellian-view display whose nodal point is translated to follow the viewer's pupil during eye movements using a traveling holographic optical element. The same optics relay an image of the eye to an infrared camera used for gaze tracking, which in turn drives the foveal display location and peripheral nodal point. Our display supports accommodation cues by varying the focal depth of the microdisplay in the foveal region, and by rendering simulated defocus on the "always in focus" scanning laser projector used for peripheral display. The resulting family of displays significantly improves on the field-of-view, resolution, and form-factor tradeoff present in previous augmented reality designs. We show prototypes supporting 30, 40 and 60 cpd foveal resolution at a net 85° × 78° field of view per eye.

Perceptual assessment of environmental stability modulates postural sway.

We actively maintain postural equilibrium in everyday life, and, although we are unaware of the underlying processing, there is increasing evidence for cortical involvement in this postural control. Converging evidence shows that we make appropriate use of ‘postural anchors’, for example static objects in the environment, to stabilise our posture. Visually evoked postural responses (VEPR) that are caused when we counteract the illusory perception of self-motion in space (vection) are modulated in the presence of postural anchors and therefore provide a convenient behavioural measure. The aim of this study is to evaluate the factors influencing visual appraisal of the suitability of postural anchors. We are specifically interested in the effect of perceived ‘reality’ in VR the expected ‘stability’ of visual anchors. To explore the effect of ‘reality’ we introduced an accommodation-vergence conflict. We show that VEPR are appropriately modulated only when virtual visual ‘anchors’ are rendered such that vergence and accommodation cues are consistent. In a second experiment we directly test whether cognitive assessment of the likely stability of real perceptual anchors (we contrast a ‘teapot on a stand’ and a ‘helium balloon’) affects VEPR. We show that the perceived positional stability of environmental anchors modulate postural responses. Our results confirm previous findings showing that postural sway is modulated by the configuration of the environment and further show that an assessment of the stability and reality of the environment plays an important role in this process. On this basis we propose design guidelines for VR systems, in particular we argue that accommodation-vergence conflicts should be minimised and that high quality motion tracking and rendering are essential for high fidelity VR.

Hybrid multi-layer displays providing accommodation cues

Hybrid multi-layer displays are proposed as the system combines additive light field (LF) displays and multiplicative LF displays. The system is implemented by integrating the multiplicative LF displays with a half mirror to expand the overall depth of field. The hybrid displays are advantageous in that the form factor is competitive with existing additive LF displays with 2 layers implemented by a half mirror and two panels, only half of brightness loss is experienced compared to multiplicative LF displays with 2 layers, and no time-division is required to provide images for multi-layer displays. The images for presentation planes are processed by light field factorization and optimized with the presented algorithm. Retinal images are reconstructed based on various accommodation states and display types to check the accommodation response and utilized to compare the proposed displays with existing displays. With ray tracing method, retinal images generated by the proposed displays can be obtained. To verify the feasibility of the system, a prototype of hybrid multi-layer displays was implemented and display photographs were captured with different accommodation states of camera. With the simulation results and experimental results, this system was confirmed to support accommodation cues in a range of 1.8 diopters.

Layered Display with Accommodation Cue Using Scattering Polarizers

A projection-type layered display inducing the accommodation cue is proposed. To support the accommodation cue, the concept of multiplane displays, especially the principle of additive type compressive light field display, is adopted. To achieve the additive type light field display, two layered scattering polarizers and a single projector which is synchronized with polarization rotator are used. Scattering polarizer diffuses light rays with specific linear polarization state while transmits the other rays with the orthogonal polarization state. Utilizing this characteristic, two layer images can be displayed at different depths presenting multiplane display. By adopting an additional computational process, several viewpoints can be provided to a single eye and support the accommodation cue. We expect that the proposed method can be adopted to virtual reality system. Detailed principle of the proposed system and its feasibility are explained with simulations and experiments.