Customizable Head-mounted Device for Detection of Eye Disorders using Virtual Reality

TLDR: An approach towards developing a virtual reality based low-cost head-mounted device (HMD) that can detect eye disorders like visual acuity, astigmatism, color vision deficiency, and age-related macular degeneration, limiting the involvement of healthcare professionals is presented.

Abstract: Eye disorders like myopia, hypermetropia, and color blindness affect millions of people around the world. Early detection can help the affected persons take preventive measures against further degradation. However, early detection requires regular testing and visits to trained healthcare professionals to judge the level of disorder. The customization of the test requirements can simplify the method of diagnosis. This paper presents an approach towards developing a virtual reality based low-cost head-mounted device (HMD). The standalone HMD can detect eye disorders like visual acuity, astigmatism, color vision deficiency, and age-related macular degeneration, limiting the involvement of healthcare professionals. We did a user study to test the accuracy of our prototype against various optical test scenarios. The study revealed that the prototype achieved an overall accuracy of 93%. We further aim to deploy the device in economically vulnerable communities with limited access to healthcare infrastructure.