Abstract:
Augmentations to enhance perception in prosthetic vision (also known as
bionic eyes) have the potential to improve functional outcomes significantly
for implantees. In current (and near-term) implantable electrode arrays
resolution and dynamic range are highly constrained in comparison to images
from modern cameras that can be head mounted. In this paper, we propose a
novel, generally applicable adaptive contrast augmentation framework for
prosthetic vision that addresses the specific perceptual needs of low
resolution and low dynamic range displays. The scheme accepts an externally
defined pixel-wise weighting of importance describing features of the image
to enhance in the output dynamic range. Our approach explicitly incorporates
the logarithmic scaling of enhancement required in human visual perception to
ensure perceivability of all contrast augmentations. It requires no
pre-existing contrast, and thus extends previous work in local contrast
enhancement to a formulation for general image augmentation. We demonstrate
the generality of our augmentation scheme for scene structure and looming
object enhancement using simulated prosthetic vision.