Alexander Neugebauer, MSc, and colleagues tested the impact of virtual reality (VR)–based gaze training on real-world navigation in patients with retinitis pigmentosa. Eight patients aged 20-60 years participated in the study. During the training phase, patients underwent VR gaze training for 30 minutes per day, while patients in the control group did not participate in training. Before and after each phase, patients navigated a randomized real-world obstacle course. After the training phase, participants who underwawent gaze training showed a 17.0% decrease in the time required to move through the obstacle course and a 50.0% decrease in collisions. By contrast, participants in the control group showed decreases of 5.9% and 10.4%, respectively. The team also found that VR-based gaze training was associated with a 4.41% increase in average visual area observed by participants, but this effect was not significant when compared with the control group (P=0.394).
