UC Santa Cruz

Amblyopia is one of the most common and treatable neurological eye conditions worldwide, affecting 1-5% of the population. This condition has been traditionally treated through occlusion therapy (patching the stronger eye) to help strengthen the visual pathways from the weaker eye to the brain. This treatment is vital in preventing potential vision loss and other visual problems that can arise if this condition is left untreated. It is usually most effective if the treatment is administered during childhood. However, due to the nature of occlusion therapy, which can be repetitive and uncomfortable since it requires wearing an eye patch for extended periods, it suffers from low compliance rates. This thesis covers developing and testing a Virtual Reality (VR) game designed in close collaboration with an ophthalmology clinic to make visual exercises that make this traditionally cumbersome therapy more enjoyable. Researchers met with a team of clinicians weekly to develop and iterate on this game, ensuring that we consider clinician feedback when making game design decisions. We conducted our research evaluating this game in two parts—the first aimed to test the game’s efficacy against a placebo in a clinical setting. In contrast, the second part aimed to introduce scent as feedback to the game, conduct interviews with clinicians to gleam insights abouttheir experience using the game, and survey participants who played the game. Through this work, we aim to examine how serious games might help make health therapeutics more enjoyable and engaging through technology, such as VR, along with understanding the role multimodal feedback can play in these severe games for health. This research aims to contribute to the field of serious games for healthcare, specifically for visual acuity-related conditions, and provide insights into the process of co-designing games with healthcare professionals. These studies showed promising results for the game’s use and some surprising findings about how adding multimodal feedback, such as scent, can augment the experience.