Realter: An Immersive Simulator to Support Low-Vision Rehabilitation

The project REALTER (wearable egocentric altered reality simulator) exploits immersive technologies and extended reality (XR) environments to support low-vision rehabilitation, by offering an immersive simulator of low-vision conditions. Perceiving and navigating the world as low-vision individuals has the potential of being a useful tool for ophthalmologists and visual rehabilitators to increase empathy with the assisted population and to improve the existing therapeutic techniques. Additionally, by analyzing ocular movements acquired during experimental sessions with healthy-sighted individuals in a condition of simulated low vision, researchers may collect quantitative data to extend the state of the art in understanding the behavioral changes of low-vision persons. The project involved the implementation of an immersive system by using commercial device tools currently available on the market. The hardware consists of an immersive virtual reality (VR) headset with an integrated eye tracker and a pair of external cameras, to provide gaze-contingent altered/extended reality (XR) content by a pass-through modality. The software can realistically simulate several low-vision conditions, such as age-relatedmacular degeneration, glaucoma, and hemianopsia, and simultaneously acquire eye and head movements for data analysis.