Active photonic sensing for super-resolved reading performance in simulated prosthetic vision.

In this work, we study the enhancement of simulated prosthetic reading performance through "active photonic sensing" in normally sighted subjects. Three sensing paradigms were implemented: active sensing, in which the subject actively scanned the presented words using the computer mouse, with an option to control text size; passive scanning produced by software-initiated horizontal movements of words; and no scanning. Our findings reveal a 30% increase in word recognition rate with active scanning as compared to no or passive scanning and up to 14-fold increase with zooming. These results highlight the importance of a patient interactive interface and shed light on techniques that can greatly enhance prosthetic vision quality.