Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
Department of Engineering "Enzo Ferrari," University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Transl Vis Sci Technol. 2024 Oct 1;13(10):28. doi: 10.1167/tvst.13.10.28.
In the past few decades, the prevalence of myopia, where the eye grows too long, has increased dramatically. The visual environment appears to be critical to regulating the eye growth. Thus, it is very important to determine the properties of the environment that put children at risk for myopia. Researchers have suggested that the intensity of illumination and range of distances to which a child's eyes are exposed are important, but this has not been confirmed.
We designed, built, and tested an inexpensive, child-friendly, head-mounted device that can measure the intensity and spectral content of illumination approaching the eyes and can also measure the distances to which the central visual field of the eyes are exposed. The device is mounted on a child's bicycle helmet. It includes a camera that measures distances over a substantial range and a six-channel spectral sensor. The sensors are hosted by a light-weight, battery-powered microcomputer. We acquired pilot data from children while they were engaged in various indoor and outdoor activities.
The device proved to be comfortable, easy, and safe to wear, and able to collect very useful data on the statistics of illumination and distances.
The designed device is an ideal tool to be used in a population of young children, some of whom will later develop myopia and some of whom will not.
Such data would be critical for determining the properties of the visual environment that put children at risk for becoming myopic.
在过去的几十年中，眼球过长导致的近视发病率显著增加。视觉环境似乎对调节眼球生长起着至关重要的作用。因此，确定使儿童面临近视风险的环境特性非常重要。研究人员认为，光照强度和儿童眼睛暴露的距离范围很重要，但这一点尚未得到证实。
我们设计、制造并测试了一种经济实惠、适合儿童使用的头戴式设备，该设备可以测量接近眼睛的光照强度和光谱内容，还可以测量眼睛中央视觉区域暴露的距离。该设备安装在儿童自行车头盔上。它包括一个可以测量大范围内距离的摄像头和一个六通道光谱传感器。传感器由一个重量轻、电池供电的微型计算机承载。我们在儿童进行各种室内和室外活动时获取了试点数据。
该设备佩戴舒适、简便、安全，能够收集有关光照和距离统计数据的非常有用的信息。
设计的设备是在一群年幼的孩子中使用的理想工具，其中一些孩子以后会发展成近视，而另一些孩子则不会。
这些数据对于确定使儿童面临近视风险的视觉环境特性至关重要。
