Training Program for people with restriction in the visual field and loss of contrast sensitivity

 This proposal is a training program aimed to improve the visual functioning of people with restriction in contrast sensitivity (CS), such as Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) based on a software that generates luminous stimuli of varying duration and intensity and registers the stimuli perceived by the subject. The stimuli are presented to the users by means of a head-mounted-display in order to achieve an immersive experience and to control the luminosity conditions. This training program was developed by multidisciplinary team composed of computer Scientists and Psychologists.

The register training program has been tested in a study that involved Twenty-six volunteers with RP, 15 of them who made up the experimental group while 11 participated as a control group (without training). The participants were evaluated before beginning the training, upon completion, and 3 month after completion for CS with the Pelli-Robson Contrast Sensitivity (P&R) test, visual functioning with the Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ), and in emotional state with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The outcomes of the study showed that the experimental group made significant progress in all variables and these effects remained 3 month after completion, suggesting that the training program could be a helpful tool for RP rehabilitation and to mitigate the damage. The results of this study has ben published in the JCR Journal of Rehabilitation, Research and Development.

H- Chacón-López, F. J. Pelayo, M. D. López-Justicia, C. A. Morillas, Ureña, A. Chacón-Medina, B. Pino, Visual training and emotional state of people with retinitis pigmentosa, Journal of Rehabilitation, Research and Development, 50, 8 (2013) 1157-1168.

Opto-electronical devices to increase contrast sensitivity

This research is aimed to the development of a technological solution to increase contrast and visibility using machine learning and digital image processing techniques.

These approaches have been implemented to carry out real time image processing in a portable device, such as a little netbook with GPU, or in a FPGA.

The main related publications are the followings:

1. Ureña, C. Morillas, F. J. Pelayo, Real-time bio-inspired contrast enhancement on GPU, Neurocomputing, 121 (2013) 40-52, JCR 3.241, Ranking 27/132 Q1
2. Martínez Cañada, C. Morillas, R. Ureña, J.M. Gómez López, F.J. Pelayo, Embedded system for contrast enhancement in low-vision, Journal of Systems Architecture, 59, 1 (2013) Pages 30-38, JCR 1.199
3. Ureña, P. Martinez-Cañada, J.M. Gómez-López, C. Morillas, F. Pelayo,  Real-time tone mapping on GPU and FPGA, EURASIP Journal on Image and Video Processing 2012: 1 (2012), JCR 1.737, Ranking 13/27 Q2,