Gaming for an Independent Life: Hope for Visually Impaired Children with New Computer Game

A new computer game, which developers say could help visually-impaired children lead independent lives, has been rolled out online and it is being made freely available for families, schools, and healthcare providers.

The browser-based game, called Eyelander, has been designed to help young people with visual field loss caused by Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) – which is usually the result of a brain injury rather than damage to the eye itself – to use their vision more effectively. 

The behavioral therapy featured in the game trains players to move their eyes more efficiently by finding the correct colorful shape in a range of competing colors and shapes shown at different positions on the screen, all led by an animated avatar and punctuated with encouraging words to motivate the player.

It has been developed by a team of neuroscientists from the University of Lincoln, UK, and the WESC Foundation, one of the UK’s leading specialist schools for visually impaired children, and professional games development company, Mutant Labs Ltd.

Existing training programs usually offer only black and white, two-dimensional shapes with no interaction. The aim of the game is to offer a colorful, engaging ‘training’ through playing the computer game – an activity which is often not viable for children with functional vision problems because of complications viewing screen graphics.

Through regular practice, the exercises can improve performance in daily activities that require good vision, such as walking more safely in a crowded environment or reaching for something in the supermarket. Researchers believe that playing the game 10 times over 4 weeks may give users improvement in their functional vision.

There are around 25,800 blind and partially-sited children in the United Kingdom – equating to two children per 1,000. There are many different causes of blindness and partial sight in children, but CVI is the most common in the United Kingdom and other developed countries.

Computational neuroscientist Jonathan Waddington from WESC and Timothy Hodgson, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Lincoln’s School of Psychology, have led the development of the game.

Jonathan explained: “Functional vision is used to perform everyday tasks such as safely crossing the road or finding a book on a bookshelf, but when the visual pathways between the brain and the eyes are interrupted, the messages aren’t correctly relayed and the visual field becomes reduced.

“We wanted to take existing therapies used to rehabilitate adults with visual field loss and make them more engaging for younger participants. We developed a prototype game with input from the residents of our school, and spent two years testing it with NHS patients before working with a professional games developer to create a browser game.

“Now, we want to raise awareness of this potentially life-changing project with the ultimate goal of improving access to effective vision therapy for visually impaired young people, as well as find out exactly what this means in reality for those who play it. To do this we need the help of as many participants as possible.”

The WESC Foundation is now asking for visually impaired young people to play the game and take part in further research to gather data that will advance their understanding of the complex challenges faced by young people with visual field loss.

Professor Hodgson said: “Visual field loss is a condition that can be caused by problems in areas of the brain that process vision. This partial loss of vision can result in serious difficulties with some activities of daily life, such as searching for something in a crowded drawer or at a supermarket. We are very hopeful that this game will provide not only a real solution to help people live a fuller, more adaptive life, but also offer a bit more fun for the eye training tasks they have to do.”

To take part in the trial, contact Jonathan Waddington from the WESC Foundation at JWaddington@wescfoundation.ac.uk

To play the game, visit www.eyelander.co.uk.