There's no such thing as can't: how the Berger brothers developed the Project Eye out of necessity

Visual field loss is when a person can no longer perceive part of their field of vision - whether due to a head injury, brain surgery or, as in Dominik's case, a stroke. Despite this event, he didn't let it get him down and, together with his brother Florian, found a creative solution to the problem: the Project Eye.

 

The enemy gets a face

"The desire to be able to assess the extent to which the affected area was changing was the birth of the project! ", says Dominik Berger. "After a conversation with my brother, he immediately started programming a tool for the VR glasses that allowed me to do just that - to map out the affected area. Psychologically, this was a real milestone for me! The software enabled me to measure the area myself at any time, giving 'the enemy' a face. It is also possible to compare 2 measurements with each other to show changes."

 

Necessity is the mother of invention

The treatment options for visual field loss are divided into compensatory training, which aims to help the affected person cope better with the impairment, and the not uncontroversial restitution training, which aims to restore the visual field through targeted stimulation. These have been offered in almost unchanged form since the 1990s - using a chin rest in front of a monitor.

Dominik explains: "Although the compensatory training has brought an improvement in everyday life - it's not really sexy to train 'just' to cope better with the limitation. For me, training that aims to restore my perception was definitely more interesting."

 

The project is growing

The outdated restitution training sessions spurred the two of them on to develop their own individual VR training. "After we had already defined the affected area in the VR glasses, it was a logical progression to develop various concentration exercises specifically for the problem area. The first thing that came to mind was an object that kept buzzing through the defined training field like an annoying fly - in random paths - in order to train perception in this area and stimulate and reactivate the brain. This was the first opportunity for me to deal specifically with my limitation. After every training session, you realize that this activity sets something in motion!" explains Dominik Berger. 

Many more stimulus exercises were developed, tried out, improved, changed again, discarded, etc. - and all on demand. The fact that everything was developed web-based made an uncomplicated development process possible in the first place. Change requests and new training sessions were discussed by telephone and could be tested immediately after the program change and feedback was immediately given and adapted according to the try-and-error principle.

 

The training setup - recipe for successful training

Ingredients / Take:

• commercially available VR glasses
• WLAN - Internet connection
• A pinch of time (approx. 15-20 minutes)

At will: a cozy couch & good relaxing music

 

Preparation:

Take your time in a pleasant and relaxed environment. Put on the VR glasses and start the corresponding website. Click on a button to select your desired training session and the previously measured training area. Then press "ENTER-VR" to enter the visual training room and start training.

 

Blind spots

"By training several times a day and dealing with the visual impairment, I realized that I do have perception in the affected area. For example, although I couldn't tell whether a triangle, a circle or a square was being shown, I was still able to perceive movement and follow it in the peripheral area. From this fact, I deduced that the previous restitution training sessions, which only presented static stimuli in the form of flashing shapes, were far from ideal for effective training."

 

Creativity meets technology and innovation

While restitution training with a chin rest dates back to the 90s of the last century, Dominik and Florian have improved the training with their own experience and brought it into the modern world of the 21st century with the Project Eye. The two may not be doctors, but they are innovators with heart and soul. In addition to his work for the FutureLab (Ars Electronica Center), Florian is an active artist in the field of generative art. Dominik, on the other hand, is a creative mind in the guise of a controller. With their project eye, they have already won second place in the creative industry category of the EDISON DER PREIS ideas competition.

 

Attention, not a medical device!

Even if the Project Eye could help those affected, it must be emphasized that it is not a certified medical device and therefore cannot yet be made available to the masses. The reason for this is the hurdles for the certification of a medical device in Europe.

"We are currently examining whether an earlier market entry in America is not the better way for us. Of course, we would prefer to start on the European market - unfortunately, the European approval procedure is not only beyond our budget, but also our time horizon."

 

Interested parties of all kinds - please let us know!

If you are interested in the project eye in any way (be it as an affected person for the purpose of exchanging experiences, as a supporter/investor, as a knowledge carrier in the health sector ...) we would be very pleased to receive a message at info@projekt-auge.at.

Further information at www.projekt-auge.at