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Abstract
Background
This study investigated whether realistic immersive conditions with dynamic indoor scenes presented on a large, hemispheric panoramic screen covering 180° of the visual field improved the visual search abilities of participants with age‐related macular degeneration (AMD).
Method
Twenty‐one participants with AMD, 16 age‐matched controls and 16 young observers were included. Realistic indoor scenes were presented on a panoramic five metre diameter screen. Twelve different objects were used as targets. The participants were asked to search for a target object, shown on paper before each trial, within a room composed of various objects. A joystick was used for navigation within the scene views. A target object was present in 24 trials and absent in 24 trials. The percentage of correct detection of the target, the percentage of false alarms (that is, the detection of the target when it was absent), the number of scene views explored and the search time were measured.
Results
The search time was slower for participants with AMD than for the age‐matched controls, who in turn were slower than the young participants. The participants with AMD were able to accomplish the task with a performance of 75-per cent correct detections. This was slightly lower than older controls (79.2-per cent) while young controls were at ceiling (91.7-per cent). Errors were mainly due to false alarms resulting from confusion between the target object and another object present in the scene in the target‐absent trials.
Conclusion
The outcomes of the present study indicate that, under realistic conditions, although slower than age‐matched, normally sighted controls, participants with AMD were able to accomplish visual searches of objects with high accuracy.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The study was funded by a research grant from the French National Research Agency (program SHS2 ANR LowVision) and from the Fondation Visio to the last author. The sponsors played no role in the design or conduct of this research. Part of this study was presented as an invited talk at a meeting of the cross‐sectional low vision group at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in Denver in May 2015.