Improvement in Patient-Reported Quality of Life Outcomes in Severely Visually Impaired Individuals Using the Aira Assistive Technology System

Abstract

PurposeWe evaluate patient-reported quality of life outcomes in severely visually impaired (SVI) individuals using the Aira system, an on demand assistive wearable technology.MethodsAira is an on-demand assistive wearable technology designed for the severely visually impaired (visual acuity of better eye <20/200). The user wears glasses with a video camera mounted that, when activated, livestreams to a human agent who assists the user in the specified task. Aira subscribers were recruited consecutively and administered the 28-item Impact of Vision Impairment-Very Low Vision (IVI-VLV) Questionnaire, a previously validated survey for vision-related quality of life specifically for low vision individuals. The questionnaire was administered by phone before starting Aira and at 3-month follow-up. Total score as well as validated subset scores of activities of daily living, mobility and safety (ADLMS) and emotional wellbeing (EWB) were assessed.ResultsA total of 69 participants (mean age, 52.1; 35 female, 34 male) were recruited with a mean of 108 (SD = 19.7) days to follow-up. Mean total minutes used over the interval were 334.1 (SD = 318.5). Initial total score (mean 51.7 ± 18.6) significantly improved at follow-up (mean 62.2 ± 15.0; P < 0.0001) with mean change +10.4 ± 12.5. ADLMS subset score (mean 30.4 ± 10.8) significantly improved at follow-up (mean 36.6 ± 8.8; P < 0.0001) with mean change +6.5 ± 8.7. EWB subset score (mean 21.6 ± 8.8) significantly improved at follow-up (mean 25.6 ± 7.9 respectively; P < 0.0001) with mean change +4.0 ± 5.2. There was no correlation between minutes used and improvement in total (r = −0.205, P = 0.098), ADLMS (r = −0.237, P = 0.055), and EWB (r = −0.242, P = 0.051) scores.ConclusionsIn this exploratory study, regardless of minutes used, the use of Aira significantly improves IVI-VLV total score and ADLMS and EWB subscores for SVI individuals. This improvement is not correlated with total minutes used.Translational RelevanceThe Aira assistive technology system may provide improvement in quality of life for low vision patients and is worthy of further study to assess the use of this technology to assist SVI patients.

Quality of Life Assessment of Severely Visually Impaired Individuals Using Aira Assistive Technology System

“…All 69 subscribers who were initially recruited from December 2016 to December 2017 for the prior study by Nguyen et al 16 were invited to participate in this study. Of the 69, 50 participants who continued to use the Aira system are included in the current analysis.…”

“…With the recent boom of technological advancements in cameras and headwear, many companies have been approaching the problem by combining augmented reality with headworn devices such as Glass (Google, Mountain View, CA) and HoloLens (Microsoft, Redmond, WA). [13][14][15][16][17] Aira (available in the public domain at https://aira.io/; Aira Tech Corporation, La Jolla, CA) uses on-demand augmented reality assistive wearable technology designed for the SVI but relies on human-human intelligence instead of computed artificial intelligence or unidirectional output as its method of assistance. The user wears glasses with a video camera mounted that, when activated, livestreams to an "agent" who assists the user in the specified task.…”

“…This model allows for collaboration to solve a spectrum of issues commonly encountered by SVI individuals, including navigation, reading, and even more complex tasks such as musical lessons. 18 In a separate study by Nguyen et al, 16 an analysis of more than 10,022 sequential calls to the Aira service revealed that the most common tasks requested were reading, navigation, and home management for men and women. The top three categories for women were reading (35%), navigation (31%), and home management (17%).…”

“…Our group has recently published the results of a prospective study looking at how Aira improved quality of life after using this assistive technology system for 3 months. 16 Using the 28-item Impact of Vision Impairment-Very Low Vision (IVI-VLV) Questionnaire specifically validated for low vision patients, 19 we administered this instrument by phone before starting Aira with a follow-up at 3 months. This study demonstrated the use of Aira significantly improved IVI-VLV total score for SVI individuals.…”

“…Total score as well as validated subset scores of activities of daily living, mobility, and safety (ADLMS) and emotional well-being (EWB) were assessed and showed improvement regardless of minutes used. 16 Here, we present the prospective 1-year follow-up data from 50 participants who continued using the Aira system to determine whether the demonstrated improvement in IVI-VLV total score and ADLMS and EWB subscores at the 3-month follow-up is sustained at the 1-year follow-up.…”