Joanne Wood

Queensland University of Technology | QUT · School of Optometry and Vision Science

Introduction Hyperopia is associated with reduced vision and educational outcomes in schoolchildren. This study explored the impact of clinically significant hyperopia (≥+2.00 D) on visual function in schoolchildren and compared the ability of different screening tests (alone and in combination) to detect this level of hyperopia. Methods Vision te...

Purpose: To examine the optic nerve head (ONH) characteristics of visually normal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and non-Indigenous Australian children. Prcis: This study demonstrated significant differences in optic nerve head characteristics in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander compared to non-Indigenous children which has...

Purpose: To investigate the effect of low luminance on face recognition, specifically facial identity discrimination (FID) and facial expression recognition (FER), in adults with central vision loss (CVL) and peripheral vision loss (PVL) and to explore the association between clinical vision measures and low luminance FID and FER. Methods: Parti...

There is a clear need to identify older drivers at increased crash risk, without additional burden on the individual or licensing system. Brief off-road screening tools have been used to identify unsafe drivers and drivers at risk of losing their license. The aim of the current study was to evaluate and compare driver screening tools in predicting...

Introduction: Vision standards for driving are typically based on visual acuity, despite evidence that it is a poor predictor of driving safety and performance. However, visual motion perception is potentially relevant for driving, as the vehicle and surroundings are in motion. This study explored whether tests of central and mid-peripheral motion...

The visual limitations of drivers at night are a key contributing factor to the relatively high crash involvement of vulnerable road users including pedestrians, roadworkers and cyclists on night-time roads. Making vulnerable road users more conspicuous (recognisable, rather than simply visible) to oncoming drivers, is one approach to increasing th...

Clinical relevance: The ocular biometry measures of the eye determine the refractive status, and while most refractive error develops during childhood, the ocular biometry measures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children have not previously been reported. Background: To investigate the ocular biometry of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Is...

Clinical relevance Understanding the prevalence of vision conditions in a population is critical for determining the most appropriate strategies for detecting and correcting eye conditions in a community. This is particularly important in very remote regions where access to vision testing services is limited. Background Although recent studies hav...

Reduced conspicuity is an important contributing factor to increased motor vehicle-bicycle crashes and cyclist fatalities at night. This study explored ways of making night-time cyclists more conspicuous to oncoming vehicles through cyclist clothing options and bicycle light position. Fifteen young participants (M = 29.1 ± 4.5 years) drove a closed...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify low luminance activities of daily living (ADL) relevant to adults with vision impairment using a concept-mapping approach. Methods: "Group concept mapping" was utilized to identify specific ADLs that persons with vision impairment find challenging under low light conditions. In the first "brains...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of glare, that simulated the effects of oncoming vehicle headlights, and age on different aspects of motion perception in central and peripheral vision. Methods: Twenty younger (mean age = 25 years, range = 20-32 years) and 20 older (mean age = 70 years, range = 60-79 years) visually...

Good vision is important for safe driving. The impact of vision impairment associated with common eye diseases on driving performance, and the association between vision measures and driving performance, are discussed. Studies include those where participants drove a real vehicle on a closed road or on public roads. Closed-road studies include eval...

Background Understanding normative retinal thickness characteristics is critical for diagnosis and monitoring of pathology, particularly in those predisposed to retinal disease. The macular retinal layer thickness of Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children was examined using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Method...

Purpose: Accurate perception of body position relative to the environment through visual cues provides sensory input to the control of postural stability. This study explored which vision measures are most important for control of postural sway in older adults with a range of visual characteristics. Methods: Participants included 421 older adult...

Background/Objectives To examine the validity of high-contrast visual acuity and the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) as tools for identifying at-risk older drivers. Design Prospective multi-site observational cohort study. Setting Community sample drawn from cities of Brisbane and Canberra, Australia. Participants 560 licensed drivers aged 65–96 y...

Purpose: Red signals signify danger in a range of situations, including train operations. Importantly, misperception of a red signal as yellow can have serious safety implications. This study investigated the effects of lens blur on incorrect colour perception of red signals, which has been implicated in previous train crashes. Methods: Particip...

Purpose: To investigate the extent of low light exposure and associated physical activity in older adults with and without age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: Light exposure (lux) and physical activity (counts per minute, CPM) were measured in 28 older adults (14 bilateral AMD and 14 normally sighted controls) using a wrist-worn act...

Purpose: To explore the longitudinal impact of central vision loss on concern about falling (CF), over a 12-month period, in people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: Participants included 60 community-dwelling older people (age, 79.7 ± 6.4 years) with central vision impairment due to AMD. Binocular high-contrast visual acuity...

Experiencing sleepiness when driving is associated with increased crash risk. An increasing number of studies have examined on-road driver sleepiness; however, these studies typically assess the effect of sleepiness during the late night or early morning hours when sleep pressure is approaching its greatest. An on-road driving study was performed t...

Purpose Eye movements are integral to the reading process. This study characterised the eye movement patterns of children differentiated by their reading ability, while completing a saccadic eye movement test with irregular target spacing (Development Eye Movement (DEM) test) using a novel eye movement classification algorithm. Methods Participant...

Background and Objectives Older drivers are overrepresented in collisions at intersections while making left turns across oncoming traffic. Using naturalistic driving methods, we evaluated the association between vision impairment and their left-turn characteristics. Research Design and Methods In this prospective, observational study, vision impa...

Vision is important for safe driving, but there is limited understanding regarding the impact of vision disorders on driving ability and safety. This systematic review evaluated and summarized evidence on the impact of vision disorders and impairment on motor vehicle crash (MVC) risk and on-road driving performance across seven databases, was prosp...

Objective: Despite theoretical models emphasizing the likely importance of adaptive decision-making to maintaining safety on the roads, there has been a lack of research investigating this topic. This exploratory study aimed to determine if decision-making under risk conditions, as measured by the Game of Dice Task (GDT), can explain additional var...

Poor conspicuity increases the risk of cyclists and pedestrians being involved in collisions with vehicles under low light conditions. Retroreflective strips in biomotion configuration significantly increases conspicuity. This study explored how to design biomotion garments that will appeal to cyclists and pedestrians. Nine focus groups involving 5...

Importance Government motor vehicle crash reports used in the study of driver safety can be biased and incomplete. Naturalistic driving methods using in-vehicle instrumentation have been developed in recent years to objectively measure crashes and near crashes as they occur on the road using video and vehicle kinematic data. Objective To examine v...

Purpose: To investigate the effect of low light levels on postural stability in older adults with and without age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: Participants included 28 older adults [14 with AMD (mean age ± S.D., 83.4 ± 6.7 years) and 14 controls with normal vision (74.6 ± 3.3 years)]. Postural stability was assessed with eyes ope...

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence of mental health conditions and burnout among practising optometrists in Australia. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of registered practising Australian optometrists was undertaken over a three-week period from mid-November 2019. The survey comprised three well-established mental health scales (Kessler Psy...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare binocular visual attention, visual processing speeds, and visuo-cognitive search ability in children with and without amblyopia and investigate the association of visual acuity and binocular function with these measures. Methods: Participants included 20 children with amblyopia (mean age = 9.0 ±...

Purpose Many individuals drive with uncorrected refractive errors, which has implications for night driving, where poor visibility contributes to the increased crash risk relative to daytime. This study explored how small amounts of refractive blur affects the judgment of the walking direction of night‐time pedestrians and whether different types o...

Purpose To evaluate the relationship between visual function and a five-year history of motor vehicle collision rates in older adults. Motion perception impairment was explored as a risk factor for motor vehicle collisions for the first time in this study. Materials and methods Participants were licensed drivers ≥70 years old enrolled in the Alaba...

Purpose: Fatal pedestrian collisions are over-represented at night and poor conspicuity is believed to be a leading causative factor. Retro-reflective clothing enhances pedestrian conspicuity, particularly when placed in a biological motion or "biomotion" configuration. In this study, we explored how various retro-reflective clothing configuration...

Introduction: Current signage at intersections is designed for attentive pedestrians who are looking ahead. Such signage may not be sufficient when distracted by smartphones. Illuminated in-ground LED lights at crossings are an innovative solution to alert distracted pedestrians. Method: We conducted a field study at a railway crossing equipped...

Purpose To explore the differential effects of age and eccentricity on the perception of motion at photopic and mesopic light levels. Methods Thirty‐six visually normal participants (18 younger; mean age 25 years, range: 20–31) and (18 older; mean age 70 years, range: 60–79) underwent two testing sessions, one at photopic and one at mesopic light...

Purpose: Timely detection of hazards is a key driving skill; however, the hazard perception of drivers with eye disease and related visual changes and the visual predictors of hazard perception are poorly understood. Methods: Participants included drivers aged 65 years and older with a range of eye diseases, including cataract, age-related macul...

Significance: This study is the first to report high rates of uncorrected vision conditions among Australian secondary schoolchildren living in a rural area and to comment on the rate of eye examinations undertaken on Australian Indigenous children. Uncorrected vision problems that continue throughout the school years have significant implications...

Purpose To investigate the prevalence and level of concern about falling (CF) among older people with vision impairment due to age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) compared to a visually normal control group, and to identify determinants of CF for the AMD group. Methods Participants included 133 older people: 77 with AMD (mean age = 80.5 ± 6.2 y...

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the choroidal thickness profiles in visually normal Australian Indigenous children, given the important role of the choroid in refractive error and a range of ocular diseases. Methods: Choroidal thickness was assessed across the central 5 mm macular region using enhanced depth imaging spectral domain optical...

Bicycling at night is dangerous, with vehicle passing distances being a key concern, given that the main cause of night-time bicycling fatalities is from motorists hitting bicyclists from behind. However, little is known about vehicle passing distances at night or how they are affected by bicyclist visibility. This study assessed the impact of diff...

Purpose Most patients report being highly satisfied with the outcome of cataract surgery but there are variable reports regarding the impact of cataract surgery on some real‐world activities, such as fall rates. We hypothesised that adaptations to changed refractive correction and visual function may cause difficulties in undertaking everyday activ...

Objectives Dementia increases the risk of unsafe driving, but this is less apparent in preclinical stages such as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). There is, however, limited detailed data on the patterns of driving errors associated with MCI. Here, we examined whether drivers with MCI exhibited different on-road error profiles compared with cogniti...

Importance There is an urgent need to develop evidence-based assessments to identify older individuals who may be unsafe drivers. Objective To validate 8 off-road brief screening tests to predict on-road driving ability and to identify which combination of these provides the best prediction of older adults who will not pass an on-road driving test...

To describe the rationale, design and methodology of a geographically-representative and population-based study investigating the epidemiology, impact, personal and economic burden of age-related eye diseases, declining visual and other sensory systems in Asians aged >60 years in Singapore.PIONEER (The PopulatION HEalth and Eye Disease PRofilE in E...

The perception of motion is considered critical for performing everyday tasks, such as locomotion and driving, and relies on different levels of visual processing. However, it is unclear whether healthy aging differentially affects motion processing at specific levels of processing, or whether performance at central and peripheral spatial eccentric...

Purpose: There is little research evidence to explain why older adults have more problems adapting to new spectacles incorporating astigmatic changes than younger adults. We tested the hypothesis that astigmatic lenses oriented obliquely would lead to errors in verticality perception that are greater for older than younger adults. Methods: Parti...

Purpose: Executive function and visual search are linked to a number of activities of daily living including driving and mobility. Using a computerised version of the Trail Making Test B (TMT-B), we compared the executive function and visual search ability of older adults with glaucoma to age-similar controls and identified which visual function t...

Pedestrians and cyclists are at significant risk of being killed as a result of a collision with a vehicle at night-time because of their poor conspicuity. Retroreflective strips positioned on the moveable joints, in a biological motion configuration (biomotion), greatly enhance the night-time conspicuity of pedestrians and cyclists, but it is not...

Purpose: Nighttime driving is dangerous and is one of the most challenging driving situations for most drivers. Fatality rates are higher at night than in the day when adjusted for distances travelled, particularly for crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists. Although there are multiple contributory factors, the low light levels at night are be...

Pedestrian distraction is a growing road safety concern worldwide. While there are currently no studies linking distraction and pedestrian crash risk, distraction has been shown to increase risky behaviours in pedestrians, for example, through reducing visual scanning before traversing an intersection. Illuminated in-ground Light Emitting Diodes (L...

Purpose: To investigate associations between older drivers' perceived vision-related night-driving difficulties and night-time driving performance measured on a closed-road circuit. Methods: Participants included 26 older drivers (71.8 ± 6.3 years) who reported vision-related night-driving difficulties assessed with the vision and night driving...

More than 90% of the sensory information that we use for driving is estimated to be visual. However, there is ongoing debate regarding the extent to which different ocular conditions and types of visual impairment affect driving performance and which visual functions are most important for safe driving. My program of research has sought to address...

The role of visual acuity and refractive errors in the academic performance of children is controversial due to the variable quality of the research in this area and the mixed findings reported. This review aims to provide clarity by reviewing and critiquing relevant peer‐reviewed publications and also summarises what is known regarding the visual...

Purpose: To investigate the effect of uncorrected astigmatism on night driving performance on a closed-road circuit. Methods: Participants included 10 drivers (mean age 24.4 ± 7.0 years), with low to moderate bilateral astigmatism (0.75-1.50 DC), who were regular contact lens (CL) wearers. Vision and night driving performance were assessed in a...

Aim The aims of this study were to evaluate the self-reported driving abilities and use of visual and hearing aids for driving, among older adults with varying degrees of hearing impairment (HI), vision impairment (VI) and dual sensory impairment (DSI). Visual processing related to driving performance was also assessed to provide a laboratory-based...

Significance: Glaucoma has been shown to impair hazard detection ability and increase crash risk compared to controls. Differences in visual search behavior of the driving scene may explain these differences; however, there has been limited investigation of this issue with inconsistent findings. Purpose: Through eye movement tracking of older dr...

Purpose: This study evaluated the association between performance on visual information processing tests and academic performance in school children. Methods: Visual-motor integration (VMI), the Developmental Eye Movement (DEM) test, visual acuity and stereoacuity were assessed in 222 Grade 2 children (mean age: 7.90 ± 0.33 years). Academic perf...

Purpose Screening for uncorrected hyperopia in school children is important given its association with poorer visual function and academic performance. However, standard distance visual acuity screening may not detect low to moderate hyperopia. The plus lens test is used to screen for hyperopia in many school screening protocols, but has not been w...

The distracting effects of mobile telephone use while driving are well known, however the effects of other sources of distraction, such as auditory navigation devices, are less well understood. Whether the effects of auditory distraction might interact with other sensory impairments, such as vision impairment, is of interest given that visual impai...

Improving safety at railway level crossings remains a priority for the rail industry internationally, as they remain a significant hazard. A high proportion of collisions occur at passive level crossings, because of their high prevalence and their lower effectiveness at mitigating the risks that road users encounter at such crossings. The unreasona...

Purpose: Anecdotal evidence suggests that some sunglass users prefer yellow tints for outdoor activities such as driving, and research has suggested that such tints improve the apparent contrast and brightness of real-world objects. The aim of this study was to establish whether yellow filters resulted in objective improvements in performance for v...

Purpose This study aimed to validate a binocular function score that is based on common clinical measures of visual function, providing a more complete analysis of binocular outcomes, against laboratory‐based dichoptic tests of threshold stereoacuity and depth of suppression. Methods Scores on a composite binocular function (BF) score derived from...

In this research, we aimed to investigate the visual-cognitive behaviours of a sample of 106 children in Year 3 (8.8 ± 0.3 years) while completing a mathematics bar-graph task. Eye movements were recorded while children completed the task and the patterns of eye movements were explored using machine learning approaches. Two different techniques of...

New LED streetlighting designs and dimming are being introduced worldwide, however, while their cost savings are well established, their impact on driving performance has received little attention. This study investigated the effect of streetlight dimming on night-time driving performance. Participants included 14 licensed drivers (mean age 34.2 ±...

Purpose Vision is considered important for academic performance in children; however, the evidence in this area tends to be inconsistent and inconclusive. This study explored the association between vision function and visual information processing measures and standardised academic achievement scores in Grade 3 Australian children. Methods Partic...

Purpose: Refractive blur is associated with decreased hazard perception and impairments in driving performance, but little is known about why people who have spectacles to correct their distance vision drive with uncorrected vision. Methods: We conducted six focus groups. Participants were 30 drivers (mean age 45) who reported having driven uncorre...

Purpose: To assess the link between visual scanning behaviour and closed-road driving performance in older drivers with glaucomatous visual impairment. Methods: Participants included 13 older drivers with glaucoma (mean age=72.0±6.7▒y; average better-eye mean deviation [MD])=-2.9±2.1▒dB, average worse-eye MD=-12.5±7.1▒dB) and ten visually-normal...

Improving the safety at passive rail crossings is an ongoing issue worldwide. These crossings have no active warning systems to assist drivers’ decision-making and are completely reliant on the road user perceiving the approach of a train to decide whether to enter a crossing or not. This study aimed to better understand drivers’ judgements regardi...

Background Older drivers aged ≥70 years old have among the highest rates of motor vehicle collisions (MVC) compared to other age groups. Driving is a highly visual task, and older adults have a high prevalence of vision impairment compared to other ages. Most studies addressing visual risk factors for MVCs by older drivers utilize vehicle accident...

Purpose: To explore differences in driving performance of older adults with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and age-matched controls, and to identify the visual determinants of driving performance in this population. Methods: Participants included 33 older drivers with AMD (mean age [M] = 76.6 ± 6.1 years; better eye Age-Related Eye Disea...

Learning is multisensory, thus impaired vision may impact on classroom learning and subsequently, academic achievement. This research investigated the impact of impaired vision on academic achievement in a sample of 109 Grade 3 Australian children. Approximately 30% of the sample were identified as borderline or unsatisfactory by a vision screening...

The Irlen Institute claim to have treated more than a million people with individualised, precision-coloured lenses to improve vision-related symptoms and reading.[1] However, the evidence for this treatment is lacking and the Irlen approach sits under ‘Other unproved methods’ alongside Iridology and the Bates Method of curing myopia[2] on the ‘Eye...

Purpose The mechanisms underlying the elevated crash rates of older drivers with glaucoma are poorly understood. A key driving skill is timely detection of hazards; however, the hazard detection ability of drivers with glaucoma has been largely unexplored. This study assessed the eye movement patterns and visual predictors of performance on a labor...

Purpose: To examine the associations between nighttime driving performance of older drivers and photopic, mesopic, and glare-based tests of visual function. Methods: Participants included 26 older drivers (71.8 ± 6.3 years), with minimal or no eye disease, but who reported vision-related nighttime driving difficulties. Nighttime driving performa...

Background: With population aging, drivers with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are increasing; however, there is little evidence available regarding their safety. Objective: We aimed to evaluate risk of unsafe on-road driving performance among older adults with MCI. Method: The study was a cross-sectional observational study, set in Canberra, Aust...

Purpose Drivers’ responses and eye movements were assessed as they approached pedestrians at night in order to explore the relative conspicuity benefits of different configurations of retroreflective markings. Methods Eye movements were recorded using an ASL Mobile Eye (Applied Science Technologies, www.asleyetracking.com) from 14 young licensed d...

To date, few studies have investigated the eye movement patterns of individuals with glaucoma while they undertake everyday tasks in real-world settings. While some of these studies have reported possible compensatory gaze patterns in those with glaucoma who demonstrated good task performance despite their visual field loss, little is known about t...

Purpose: To assess the relationship between vision and reading outcomes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous schoolchildren to determine whether vision problems are associated with lower reading outcomes in these populations. Methods: Vision testing and reading assessments were performed on 508 Indigenous and non-Indigenous schoolchildren in Queensl...

Purpose: The Enright phenomenon describes the distortion in speed perception experienced by an observer looking sideways from a moving vehicle when viewing with interocular differences in retinal image brightness, usually induced by neutral density filters. We investigated whether the Enright phenomenon could be induced with monocular pupil dilati...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether reduced fine motor skills in children with amblyopia improve after binocular treatment and whether improvements are sustained once treatment has ceased. Methods: Fine motor skills (FMS [Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency]), visual acuity (VA [Early Treatment of Diabetic Retin...