Research

Our lab conducts research that centers on population with low vision. Low vision refers to vision problems that cannot be corrected by glasses or contact lenses. We call our lab “Sensory Lab” because vision works with other senses in our everyday life, and vision loss can be accompanied by other sensory loss.

The many projects in our lab can be categorized under two main themes, one aiming at Enhancing the Vision Accessibility of our environment, and one aiming at standardizing rehab care for Dual Sensory Impairment. While these two themes seem distinct from each other, they share concepts, methodologies, and principles, which characterize the key values and uniqueness of our lab.

• Concepts.
  We always start from understanding the basics of sensory sciences. How does sensory impairments alter the way an individual sense and understand the world? Do well-established findings in normal vision and normal hearing apply to individual with impairments? These answers build our motivations on the unaddressed needs of this population.
  
• Methodologies.
  We measure an individual’s performance in everyday tasks objectively, as well as their self-evaluation in those tasks subjectively. In basic sensory sciences, objective measurement is key, while in clinical sciences, an individual’s perception of their abilities determines their level of independence. For example, an individual who can always make good street crossing judgement may no longer cross the street alone if they feel this task to be very difficult and stressful. Psychophysics and psychometrics make the beautiful pi (pun intended) in our translational sensory science.
  
• Principles
  Real-life performance is the end goal for all of our research. When we measure a person’s performance in a laboratory context, we also strive for replicating or modifying the task for real-life context. We consider our research on spectrums from extremely simple to extremely complex, and from extremely controllable to extremely uncontrollable. For example, localizing a single sound beep in a booth is a simple task in a controllable environment. Localizing traffic on a street is a complex task in an uncontrolled environment. Two mindsets we bring into solving these big questions: 1) measuring many simple components can improve the predictive power of a complex task; and 2) we can never control the dynamic changes in real-life environment, but we can develop models to quantify the environmental features.

With these key words in mind, please refer to the Project Page below for more details into the different projects. There you will find keys words such as sensory integration models, contrast sensitivity functions, computer vision, machine learning, sensing technology, software development… one of which may resonate with your specific interest or tickle your fancy.

Click here to view lab resources, such as space, equipment, etc.