Eye‐Search: A web‐based therapy that improves visual search in hemianopia
Ong Y., Jacquin‐Courtois S., Gorgoraptis N., Bays PM., Husain M., Leff AP.
AbstractPersisting hemianopia frequently complicates lesions of the posterior cerebral hemispheres, leaving patients impaired on a range of key activities of daily living. Practice‐based therapies designed to induce compensatory eye movements can improve hemianopic patients' visual function, but are not readily available. We used a web‐based therapy (Eye‐Search) that retrains visual search saccades into patients' blind hemifield. A group of 78 suitable hemianopic patients took part. After therapy (800 trials over 11 days), search times into their impaired hemifield improved by an average of 24%. Patients also reported improvements in a subset of visually guided everyday activities, suggesting that Eye‐Search therapy affects real‐world outcomes.