Serious Games Integrating Perceptual Learning and Stereopsis Training in Children With Amblyopia: Single-Arm Pre-Post...

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Pediatric Medicine
• Digital Health

Background:

• Amblyopia, a leading cause of childhood blindness, is often poorly managed by conventional treatments like refractive correction and occlusion therapy.
• Traditional amblyopia therapies can be non-interactive, leading to low patient adherence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and assess a serious game intervention for pediatric amblyopia.
• To evaluate the game's feasibility and preliminary efficacy in improving visual function.
• To explore its potential as an alternative or complementary therapy to occlusion or atropine.

Main Methods:

• A 3-month intervention using a serious game integrating perceptual learning and stereoscopic vision training.
• Children aged 7-12 with amblyopia participated in 30-minute sessions, 4 times weekly.
• Evaluated visual acuity, accommodative sensitivity, binocular accommodation, and stereopsis pre- and post-intervention.

Main Results:

• Significant improvement in best-corrected visual acuity (0.05 logMAR change, P<.001).
• Marked enhancement in accommodative sensitivity (mean change -3.52 cycles/min, P<.001).
• Significant improvement in stereoacuity (331.20 arc sec reduction, P=.002) and high adherence (96% normal Worth 4 dot response).

Conclusions:

• Gamified amblyopia treatment demonstrated high adherence in supervised settings.
• Significant short-term improvements in visual function suggest a promising complementary approach.
• The interactive game effectively combines perceptual learning and stereopsis training as a potential alternative therapy.