Early Detection of Visual Impairments at Home Using a Smartphone Red-Eye Reflex Test
This work addresses the need for accessible pediatric vision screenings worldwide, though it is incremental as it adapts an existing clinical test to mobile technology.
The paper tackled the problem of early detection of visual impairments in children by developing a smartphone-based red-eye reflex test, achieving 90% accuracy on unseen test data.
Numerous visual impairments can be detected in red-eye reflex images from young children. The so-called Bruckner test is traditionally performed by ophthalmologists in clinical settings. Thanks to the recent technological advances in smartphones and artificial intelligence, it is now possible to recreate the Bruckner test using a mobile device. In this paper, we present a first study conducted during the development of KidsVisionCheck, a free application that can perform vision screening with a mobile device using red-eye reflex images. The underlying model relies on deep neural networks trained on children's pupil images collected and labeled by an ophthalmologist. With an accuracy of 90% on unseen test data, our model provides highly reliable performance without the necessity of specialist equipment. Furthermore, we can identify the optimal conditions for data collection, which can in turn be used to provide immediate feedback to the users. In summary, this work marks a first step toward accessible pediatric vision screenings and early intervention for vision abnormalities worldwide.