Vision Impairment Simulator

Explanation of Controls and Simulated Conditions

Blur: Adjusts the level of blurriness, simulating Myopia or Hyperopia. Increasing the blur increases the effect.

Brightness: Simulates Cataracts by adjusting the visual brightness, mimicking glare sensitivity.

Contrast Sensitivity: Modifies image contrast to mimic Glaucoma or AMD, affecting the perception of light and dark.

Peripheral Vision Loss: Simulates conditions like advanced Glaucoma by reducing peripheral vision, creating a tunnel vision effect.

Color Saturation: Adjusts color intensity to simulate Color Vision Deficiencies, such as Deuteranopia or Protanopia.

Tool Purpose

Our Vision Impairment Simulator offers a real-time experience of various vision impairments. Designed for educational and awareness purposes, it enables users to gain insight into the daily visual challenges faced by individuals with vision impairment. By adjusting various parameters, the simulator can replicate conditions such as Myopia, Hyperopia, Cataracts, Glaucoma, and Color Vision Deficiencies. This tool can be instrumental for medical professionals, caregivers, and designers aiming to create inclusive spaces and interfaces.

Simulator Parameters

• Blur: Simulates the lack of sharpness in vision due to Myopia (nearsightedness) or Hyperopia (farsightedness). Sliding this control increases or decreases the level of blurriness, replicating the difficulty in focusing on objects.
• Brightness: Adjusts the visual brightness to mimic the effect of Cataracts, where the lens of the eye becomes clouded. This slider can help demonstrate the challenges with glare sensitivity and reduced clarity.
• Contrast Sensitivity: Alters the image contrast to represent conditions like Glaucoma or Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), which lead to a reduced ability to perceive contrasts between light and dark areas, affecting depth perception and detail recognition.
• Peripheral Vision Loss: Simulates tunnel vision, a symptom of advanced Glaucoma or Retinitis Pigmentosa, where peripheral vision diminishes, leaving only central vision intact. This slider controls the extent of the visual field.
• Color Saturation: Changes the color intensity to simulate Color Vision Deficiencies (commonly known as color blindness), including Deuteranopia or Protanopia, making it difficult to distinguish certain colors.

Application Context

This simulator is a valuable tool in various settings:

• Educational: For teaching students about the impact of vision impairments.
• Professional Training: In healthcare for empathy training and in design for creating accessible content.
• Personal Use: For individuals or family members of those with vision impairments to better understand their experience.

The Science Behind It

The simulator is grounded in the principles of human visual perception. It modifies visual stimuli in ways that mimic the physiological effects of common eye conditions. By adjusting the parameters, one can experience how visual acuity, field of view, color perception, and contrast sensitivity are affected by these conditions, providing a window into the world as seen through different eyes.