Due to the unique requirements of working with bionic eye recipients (e.g., required assistance, increased setup time, travel cost), experimentation with different encoding methods remains challenging and expensive.

Instead, embedding simulated prosthetic vision (SPV) models in immersive virtual reality (VR) allows sighted subjects to act as virtual patients by “seeing” through the eyes of the patient, taking into account their head and eye movements as they explore an immersive virtual environment.

This can speed up the development process by allowing us to test theoretical predictions in high-throughput experiments, the best of which can be validated and improved upon in an iterative process with the bionic eye recipient in the loop.