Low-Vision Rehabilitation with Audio-Biofeedback in Age-Related Macular Degeneration

*Giovanni Sato and Roberta Rizzo*

## **Abstract**

Audio-biofeedback (AFBF) with microperimetry is an important step in low-vision rehabilitation in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). After identifying the preferential retinal locus (PRL) with microperimetry, it is possible to begin rehabilitation to stabilize the PRL, increasing the quality of vision with 10 sessions of audio-biofeedback, at least one session per week, of 10 minutes for each eye. This involves presenting a chessboard grid in the site of fixation variable from the beginning to the end of the session. Audio-biofeedback allows for shifting the site of fixation to another point if the spontaneous fixation that the patient has found is not good to continue rehabilitation; at the end of biofeedback, we call this site the trained retinal locus (TRL) to differentiate it from the PRL. With audiobiofeedback, the low-vision patient with AMD acquires awareness about the best site of vision, thus improving the quality of vision, including better contrast sensitivity, visual acuity, color perception, and definition of the surrounding world.

**Keywords:** maculopathy, low vision, rehabilitation, preferential retinal locus (PRL), audio-biofeedback (ABFB), microperimetry (MP), bivariate contour ellipse area (BCEA), trained retinal locus (TRL), best corrected visual acuity (BCVA)
