Low Vision and Mobility

The Hassan Lab

Dr. Hassan's  research lab specializes in low vision and mobility of human subjects. The central theme of research in my lab is to understand how people use their vision and hearing to move safely and independently in the world. To this end, we study mobility in terms of whether or not blind and visually impaired people can make appropriate decisions about when it is safe to cross non-signalized streets such as at roundabouts and at mid-block crossings. We also study how normally-sighted and visually impaired people choose their path, including how good they are at detecting and avoiding obstacles and the visual information they use (determined using their gaze and eye movement behavior) when walking to an intended target. We are also interested in assessing the differences between normally-sighted and visually impaired people in their gait kinematics when walking and stepping over obstacles that vary in both their height and visibility. More recently, my lab has begun work assessing the general opinions, trust, concerns, and perceived impact on quality of life of autonomous vehicles in people with blindness, visual impairment, and normal vision and how best to design an autonomous vehicle (in terms of the preferred user preferences and sensory modalities) for these user groups. My low vision mobility research is clinically applied. It addresses problems faced daily by visually impaired people such as crossing streets safely and general orientation and mobility. Ultimately, my research findings assist low vision optometrists and visual rehabilitation specialists to identify patients who are at risk for having poor mobility or who are in danger of tripping, losing their balance or making unsafe street crossing decisions, and to know when to refer these patients for rehabilitation training.



Photographs of Research Work in the Hassan Lab. From top left in clockwise direction: photo of subject testing at the street, measuring the street-crossing time of a blind participant, measuring balance control in an subject with Age-Related Macular Degeneration and recording the gait kinematics of a subject in the lab

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