Dual sensory impairment (DSI) refer to the co-occurence of vision and hearing impairment. DSI can be caused by birth deficits, inherited disorders, and the most common cause is age. Because of the heterogeneous nature of DSI, it is a complex topic whether you take it from an epidemiology, basic science, or clinical perspective.
Epidemiology studies consistently tell us that the population with DSI is large and increasing, although the exact “%” can sometime be hard to reconcile because of the different populations being surveyed in different studies. In our own low vision clinic at Wilmer, over 40% of the patients with low vision also have hearing impairment, highlighting the overwhelming prevalence of DSI and scale of need for an integrated care.
Basic science field has so far paid little attention to DSI, which is a major gap our lab try to fill. The concept of sensory integration has been studied extensively in normal vision and hearing — we know that optimally using vision and hearing can help us most reliability perceive space and time. Can people with combined vision and hearing loss benefit from such integration? We answer this question in multiple studies with controlled laboratory design, real-life testing, and subjective report.
Clinical rehabilitative care for combined vision and hearing has started to gain attention, but scientific idealism and clinical practicalism have to meet in the middle. With support from vision and hearing clinicians and public health experts, we are exploring ways to translate our basic science findings into integrated care. From initial assessment, to rehab strategy, to valid outcome measures, we bring a multi-sensory perspective into these aspects of clinical care.
Team
Primary Investigator:
Yingzi Xiong, PhD. Johns Hopkins University.
Co-Investigator:
Joe Nemargut, PhD, COMS. University of Montreal.
Chris Bradley, PhD. Johns Hopkins University.
Judy Goldstein, OD. Johns Hopkins University.
Lisa Keay, PhD. University of New South Wales.
Collaborators:
Don Fletcher, MD. Envision Low Vision Rehabilitation Center.
Lisa Keay, PhD. University of New South Wales.
Gislin Dagnelie, PhD. Johns Hopkins University.
Postdoc Associate:
Prachi Agrawal, MD. Johns Hopkins University.
Graduate Students:
Anas Obaideen, MD. Johns Hopkins University.
Nitin Rao Narayan, MD. Johns Hopkins University.
André DeGrenier. Johns Hopkins University.
Undergraduate Students:
Philip Reed. Johns Hopkins University.
Funding
NIH/NEI R00EY030145
RPB International Collaborators’ Award.
Recruitment Support
Lions Low Vision Clinic
Helen Keller National Center
Foundation Fighting Blindness
See Us Network