A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an injury to the head that disrupts the function of the brain. Visual dysfunction occurs in over 70% of patients following a TBI. The commonly reported symptoms include photophobia, blurred vision, and visual field defect. Very limited evidence of vision-related rehabilitation is available. OrCam Read is a handheld artificial vision device comprised of a “smart” camera that reads texts from both printed surfaces and digital screens. It uses a laser to indicate reading and a camera captures an image and converts the text into audio, which is transmitted through the device’s speaker or Bluetooth devices.

This prospective, single-centre cohort study aimed to evaluate the impact of a portable vision reading device, OrCam Read, on vision-related quality-of-life and independent functional status in patients with low vision due to stroke or brain tumours. Six patients with poor visual acuity or visual field defects due to a stroke or a brain tumour were enrolled at a U.S. Ophthalmology Department. Participants were trained to use OrCam Read and given a loaner device for the 1 month duration of the study. Various assessments, including daily function tests, the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25, and the 10-item neuro-ophthalmic supplement, were administered at the first and last visits. Patients experience with the device was evaluated with weekly telephone and end-of-study satisfaction surveys. The main outcome measures were the patient satisfaction with OrCam and the mean assessment scores between enrolment and final visits. The intervention with OrCam significantly improved patients ability to complete daily tasks and participants reported good satisfaction with the device. The results also show non-significant improvement with distant activities, dependency, and role difficulties. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of studying vision-related quality-of-life using a portable vision device in this patient population and pave the way for a larger study to validate the results of this study.