Environmental Localization Mapping and Guidance for Visual Prosthesis Users (SLAM)
Retinitis Pigmentosa, Visual Impairment, Visual Prosthesis
About this trial
This is an interventional basic science trial for Retinitis Pigmentosa focused on measuring Retinal Prosthesis, Argus II
Eligibility Criteria
Criteria for inclusion of normally sighted individuals:
- Subject speaks English;
- Subjects must be an adult (at least 18 years of age);
- Subject has the cognitive and communication ability to participate in the study (i.e., follow spoken directions, perform tests, and give feedback);
- Subject is willing to conduct psychophysics testing up to 4-6 hours per day of testing on 3-5 consecutive days;
- Subject has visual acuity of 20/40 or better (corrected);
- Subject is capable of understanding participant information materials and giving written informed consent.
- Subject is able to walk unassisted
Criteria for inclusion of Argus II users:
The inclusion criteria for the study are the following:
- Subject is at least 25 years of age;
- Subject has been implanted with the Argus II system;
- Subject's eye has healed from surgery and the surgeon has cleared the subject for programming;
- Subject has the cognitive and communication ability to participate in the study (i.e., follow spoken directions, perform tests, and give feedback);
- Subject is willing to conduct psychophysics testing up to 4-6 hours per day of testing on 3-5 consecutive days;
- Subject is capable of understanding patient information materials and giving written informed consent;
- Subject is able to walk unassisted.
Exclusion criteria for all subjects is the following:
- Subject is unwilling or unable to travel to testing facility for at least 3 days of testing within a one-week timeframe;
- Subject does not speak English;
- Subject has language or hearing impairment.
Sites / Locations
- Johns Hopkins Medicine - Wilmer Eye InstituteRecruiting
- Johns Hopkins Applied Physics LaboratoryRecruiting
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Experimental
Navigation system for users of a visual prosthesis
This intervention will assess the feasibility of using a navigation system to aid blind users of a visual prosthesis with navigation tasks, by using the navigation system to provide navigational cues through multiple sensory modalities including vision and audition. The navigation system will be designed and developed as part of the proposed research and will interface with the Argus II retinal prosthesis system, which is an FDA approved visual prosthesis. Existing blind users of the Argus II device will be recruited for this study, and the navigation system will interface with these subjects' existing Argus II systems. Sighted subjects will also be recruited for this study, in which case the navigation system will interface with a head-mounted display (such as the Oculus Rift) worn by the sighted subjects that simulates the visual sensory information experienced by blind users of the Argus II retinal implant.