A Preliminary Usability Comparison of Augmented and Virtual Reality User Interactions for Direct Ophthalmoscopy

Direct ophthalmoscopy, or fundoscopy, is a routine examination whereby a health professional examines the eye fundus using an ophthalmoscope. Despite advances in eye examination tools, there is a growing concern regarding a decline of fundoscopy skills. Immersive technologies, virtual and augmented reality in particular, are capable of providing interactive, engaging, and safe training scenarios, showing promise as complementary training tools. However, current virtual fundoscopy training solutions typically fail to provide an effective training experience. In this paper, we present the results of a preliminary study conducted to examine three approaches to simulating the direct ophthalmascope as part of training. The approach uses different virtual and augmented reality user inputs. Preliminary results suggest that the operation of a physical controller that maps finger movement to direct ophthamloscopy operation allows for more usable interactions and lower cognitive load than hand-tracking gestures, which are limited to pinching.