A serious game using virtual reality for treatment of Amblyopia

• Álex Silva do Prado IME
• Jauvane de Oliveira LNCC

Abstract

Serious games and virtual reality are used in a broad range of applications. Medical applications are particularly strategical, due to the nature of related therapy and training. This work introduces a serious game aimed at exploring some characteristics of the human sight, exploiting them in VR headsets to improve the user lazy eye. Such exploitation is carried out through adjustments made in the luminance of some visual elements of the scene, as presented to each eye. This setup forces the lazy eye to act upon imagery which gains reduced quality in the normal eye. The goal is to force the lazy eye to work, while also exercising binocular image fusion. In order to achieve such goal, we define and apply a multilevel dynamic calibration. That is the major contribution of this work, namely a novel adjustment method that renders graphic elements shown to each eye, to force the lazy eye to work more intensely than the user normal eye. The game’s goal is to provide a tool that can be used by ophthalmologists that need to catch the attention of young kids, while in the age in which they need to exercise a lazy eye, in order to revert its lazy status. The game has been evaluated by related professional, being considered useful.

Keywords: Serious games, Virtual reality, Amblyopia