A novel device to understand audio-spatial representation in individuals with scotoma

Macular Degeneration (MD) is a retinal disorder that damages the retina and produces scotoma (blind spots) in the central visual field, thus effecting the fixation stability of individual. Being a major cause of blindness worldwide, research and development on effective rehabilitation techniques to utilize the residual vision is always in progress. These techniques mainly focus on visual modality only. The goal of this paper is to present a novel device called ARENA to assess and understand the effects of scotoma on audio and spatial modalities. The device consists of an arena of 25 speakers arranged as a 5x5 2-D matrix covered with tactile sensors. The aim of this technology is to understand the effect of scotoma on audio-space percept and based on the concept, design rehabilitation device that integrate multiple sensory modalities to utilize residual vision.