Low Vision Devices for Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Significance: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a degenerative condition impacting central vision. Evaluating the effectiveness of low vision devices provides empirical evidence on how devices can overcome deficits caused by AMD and facilitates discussion on future improvements to vision enhancement technology.Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted on the use of low vision devices in AMD populations. Relevant peer-reviewed research articles from six databases were screened.Results: The findings of thirty-five studies revealed a significant impact of low vision devices leading to improvements in visual acuity, reading performance, facial recognition, and more. While the studies were generally found to have a moderate risk of bias, a GRADE assessment of the evidence suggests that the general certainty of the evidence was low-moderate.Conclusions: A positive effect of low vision devices was found for visual acuity, reading performance, facial recognition, and more. Simple low vision devices (e.g. magnifiers) appear to currently have greater preferential support than newer, visual enhancement technology (e.g. head mounted devices). Factors influencing this were discussed relative to low vision device features, the AMD demographic, and financial considerations. This is compounded by a lack of studies examining newer technologies in AMD populations, which future research should address. Moreover, given the presence of bias across the studies, heighted by limited controlled experiments, there may be inadequate confidence in the results. So, even though low vision devices are reported to be a valuable asset to AMD populations, more rigorous research is required to draw conclusive evidence.

Bluetooth Low Energy Beacon Sensors to Document Handheld Magnifier Use at Home by People with Low Vision

“…Therefore, we did not ask the participants to record the type of task for which they used the magnifier. Magnifiers are typically utilized for reading tasks [15], some of which may involve continuous reading, but others can entail intermittent spot reading, possibly combined with some handwriting during the same general time period when the magnifier is used. In our study, it is unknown at which times the magnifiers were used intermittently versus continuously during the time period that was indicated in the diary logs.…”

Are wearable electronic vision enhancement systems (wEVES) beneficial for people with age‐related macular degeneration? A scoping review

“…However, it was unclear if this finding was driven by performance, comfort or financial considerations. 24 Low-vision aids can be divided into two broad categories: devices that produce image enhancement by adapting and modifying the image and those that use sensory substitution to change the visual output into another form. 25 While there is some crossover between these two solutions, a wearable electronic vision enhancement system (wEVES) that principally uses image enhancement to produce an adaptable magnified image on a head-mounted display (HMD) was first proposed 30 years ago.…”