ASTEROID

A 3D eye test for lazy eye

Project description

Stereo vision, often called 3D vision, is the ability to use both eyes together to see depth. Clinicians use specialised vision tests, called stereotests, to measure patients’ 3D vision in disorders like squint. This helps them monitor progress, assess whether treatment is helping, and can guide decisions like when to operate.

The problem is that existing stereotests are not very reliable.‌ Young children may not understand the test or be willing to cooperate, e.g. by wearing 3D glasses. This limits the usefulness of current stereotests. Current tests are, frankly, difficult and boring for small children. It is hard to tell whether a child has stopped responding because they have genuinely reached their limit, or because they have lost interest.

Led by Prof Jenny Read, our team has developed a new stereotest on a glasses-free 3D tablet computer. Our stereotest is a fun, colourful game. Children give their answers by tapping where they see depth on the screen. The device uses these responses to interactively adapt the difficulty level for that particular child, customising it for each individual. The device will monitor children while they do the test and automatically adjust for any changes in viewing distance. We have compared ASTEROID with a gold standard stereotest, Randot Preschool Stereotest in 1000 children in Newcastle area and found that ASTEROID is more challenging but gives consistent results.

ASTEROID is being used in research projects all over the world and the team at Newcastle University is still improving the test.

For more information visit the ASTEROID website.

Funders

Wellcome Trust and Department of Health (UK) – Health Innovation Challenge Fund

Principal Investigator

Prof Jenny Read – Newcastle University

Run time

2014-2018

Associated publications

McCaslin, A., Vancleef, K., Hubert, L., Read, J. C. A, & Port, N. (2020). Stereotest Comparison: Efficacy, Reliability, and Variability of a New Glasses-Free Stereotest Translational Vision Science & Technology. 9, 29. https://doi.org/10.1167/tvst.9.9.29

Casanova, T., Black, C., Rafiq, S., Hugill-Jones, T., Read, J, C. A., & Vancleef, K. (2020) The impact of active research involvement of young children in the design of a new stereotest. Research Involvement and Engagement, 6(29). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40900-020-00194-6

Serrano-Pedraza, I., Vancleef, K., Herbert, W., Goodship, N., Woodhouse, M, Read, J. C. A. (2020). Efficient estimation of stereo thresholds: what slope should be assumed for the psychometric function? PLoS ONE. 15(1):e0226822. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226822

Read, J. C. A., Rafiq, S., Hugill, J. A., Casanova, T., Black, C., O’Neill, A., Puyat, V., Haggerty, H., Smart, K., Powell, C., Taylor, K., Clarke, M., & Vancleef. K. (2019) Characterizing the Randot Preschool Stereotest: testability, norms, reliability, specificity and sensitivity in children aged 2-11 years. PLoS ONE 14(11): e0224402. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0224402

Vancleef, K. & Read, J. C. A. (2019). Which Stereotest Do You Use? A Survey Research Study in the British Isles, the United States and Canada. British and Irish Orthoptic Journal, 15(1): 15-24. http://doi.org/10.22599/bioj.120

Vancleef, K., Serrano-Pedraza, I. Sharp, C., Slack, G., Black, C., Casanova, T., Hugill, J., Rafiq, S., Burridge, J., Puyat, V., Ewane Enongue, J., Akotei, H., Collier. Z., Haggerty, H., Smart, K., Powell, C., Taylor, K., Clarke, M. P., Morgan, G., Read, J. C. A. (2019). ASTEROID: A new clinical stereotest on an autostereo 3D tablet. Translational Vision Science and Technology, 8(1): 25. https://doi.org/10.1167/tvst.8.1.25

Vancleef, K., Read, J. C. A., Herbert, W., Goodship, N., Woodhouse. M., & Serrano-Pedraza I. (2018). Two choices good, four choices better: For measuring stereoacuity in children, a four-alternative forced-choice paradigm is more efficient than two. PLoS ONE, 13(7): e0201366. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201366

Elliott, A. & Vancleef, K. (2018). Latest research in amblyopia treatment. Optician, 257, 26-27.

Vancleef, K. & Read, J. C. A. (2017). Measuring near stereopsis. Optician, 254, 26-31.

Sharp, C., Ushaw, G., Hugill, J., Rafiq, S., Black, C., Casanova, T., Vancleef, K., Read, J. C. A., & Morgan G. (2017).  Analysis of soft data for mass provision of stereoacuity testing through a serious game for health. Proceedings of the 2017 International Conference on Digital Health, 216-220. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3079452.3079496

Vancleef, K., Read, J. C. A., Herbert, W., Goodship, N., Woodhouse. M., & Serrano-Pedraza I. (2017). Overestimation of stereo thresholds by the TNO stereotest is not due to global stereopsis. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics, 37(4), 507-520. https://doi.org/10.1111/opo.12371

Serrano-Pedraza, I., Vancleef K., & Read J. (2017). Avoiding monocular artefacts in clinical stereo tests presented on column-interleaved digital stereoscopic displays. Journal of Vision, 16(14), 13. https://doi.org/10.1167/16.14.13

Serrano-Pedraza, I., Herbert, W., Villa-Laso, L., Widdall, M., Vancleef, K., & Read, J. C. A. (2016). The stereoscopic anisotropy develops during childhood. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 57(3), 960-970. https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.15-17766

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