Mixed Reality as Assistive Technology: Guidelines Based on an Assessment of Residual Functional Vision in Persons with Low Vision

Abstract

Residual visual capabilities and the associated phenomenological experience can differ significantly between persons with similar visual acuity and similar diagnosis. There is a substantial variance in situations and tasks that persons with low vision find challenging. Smartglasses provide the opportunity of presenting individualized visual feedback targeted to each user’s requirements. Here, we interviewed nine persons with low vision to obtain insight into their subjective perceptual experience associated with factors such as illumination, color, contrast, and movement, as well as context factors. Further, we contribute a collection of everyday activities that rely on visual perception as well as strategies participants employ in their everyday lives. We find that our participants rely on their residual vision as the dominant sense in many different everyday activities. They prefer vision to other modalities if they can perceive the information visually, which highlights the need for assistive devices with visual feedback.