DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of the proposed SBIR program is to develop the powerful Laser Scanning Digital Camera Stimulator (LSDC-S), for fundus imaging and accurate retinal localization during visual function assessment. Low vision, due to retinal disease and other visual pathway damage, is on the increase worldwide. Retinal disease often goes undetected until vision is lost, and rehabilitation with vision aids is more difficult and less successful with increasing vision loss. Localizing the retinal damage, when present, and determining the functional vision of patients, may help optimize the selection of vision aids. Although the stability of gaze affects case management, instrumentation to determine this accurately and in comparison to retinal damage is not widely used. Fixation stability and defects in central vision will be mapped, e.g. in age-related macular degeneration and macular edema. Peripheral vision will be mapped in diseases such as glaucoma. Aeon's goal is to help provide cost effective eye care by putting instrumentation into the hands of clinicians and researchers that provides detection of pathology that will improve success with aids. The LSDC uses dim, safe near infrared light, an ideal background for viewing and retinal tracking. Aeon will build on the Phase I LSDC imager that uses a novel, hybrid confocal system with a scanning slit for illumination and a two dimensional solid state array for detection. In Phase II, Aeon will 1) Build the Laser Scanning Digital Camera Stimulator (LSDC-S) so that visual stimuli are presented simultaneously with retinal imaging, and with real-time recording of patient response, 2) Optimize the LSDC-S design for wide and magnified field of view for imaging and display matched to the task, 3) Provide new methods to assess fixation and target detection in low vision patients, 4) Perform a design review for commercialization. Underlying the high contrast images is a novel, patented core technology and robust architecture. Applications include early detection of choroidal neovascularization, detection of cystoid macular edema, investigating macular sparing, mapping the Preferred Retinal Locus, mapping the peripheral field of view accurately for medical/legal decisions, improved rehabilitation with prisms and magnifiers, and providing sharable digital retinal images. In this Phase II proposal, Aeon will provide significant, novel functionality in two models of their LSDC-S, which perform vision assessment during accurate retinal localization. The LSDC-S will help low vision practitioners determine where a patient is looking and whether gaze is steady, along with mapping out vision defects and assessing visual acuity in age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, macular edema, and other eye and systemic conditions. The research LSDC-S is aimed at clinician scientists/vision researchers, with both models featuring retinal imaging is comfortable for patients and provides high contrast retinal images for their care providers. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Aeon Imaging, LLC, will help provide cost effective eye care by developing a new product, the Laser Scanning Digital Camera Stimulator (LSDC-S), to perform vision assessment with a simultaneous and high contrast retinal image. The LSDC-S will provide the low vision specialist or researcher a uniquely wide selection of fields of view, allowing for the macula or the visual periphery to be assessed with high precision. The retinal localization of visual targets is provided by comfortable and non-mydriatic imaging using near infrared light and helps the clinician or researcher detect retinal pathology to provide more optimal patient management.

Aeon Imaging, LLC, will help provide cost effective eye care by developing a new product, the Laser Scanning Digital Camera Stimulator (LSDC-S), to perform vision assessment with a simultaneous and high contrast retinal image. The LSDC-S will provide the low vision specialist or researcher a uniquely wide selection of fields of view, allowing for the macula or the visual periphery to be assessed with high precision. The retinal localization of visual targets is provided by comfortable and non-mydriatic imaging using near infrared light and helps the clinician or researcher detect retinal pathology to provide more optimal patient management.