Residual Gaze Behavior During Navigation in Blindness and Low Vision.

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Rehabilitation Science

Background:

• Outdoor navigation is challenging for individuals with blindness or low vision.
• Gaze behavior's role in mobility for visually impaired individuals is underexplored.
• Sighted individuals use consistent scanning, while visually impaired individuals adapt based on residual vision and experience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comparatively analyze gaze behavior during outdoor navigation across different vision groups.
• To investigate how visual impairment influences mobility and eye-tracking metrics.

Main Methods:

• A comparative eye-tracking study was conducted with fully sighted, low vision, blind, and fully blind participants.
• Participants navigated outdoor routes while wearing a wearable eye tracker.
• Key metrics quantified included fixation counts, rate, area, direction, peak fixation location, and walking speed.

Main Results:

• Walking speed decreased with worsening vision.
• Fixation counts increased, and spatial coverage decreased with greater visual impairment.
• Gaze patterns became more variable and shifted outward with increasing vision loss, unlike the centered patterns of sighted individuals.

Conclusions:

• Gaze strategies during navigation exist on a continuum based on vision levels.
• Adaptive strategies and rehabilitation experience significantly influence gaze use, beyond visual acuity alone.
• Findings support personalized rehabilitation and assistive technologies, using gaze patterns to assess mobility and guide training for safer navigation.