Effectiveness Of Google Lookout App On Functional Task Performance In Low Vision Patients With Macular Disease

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the influence of the Google Lookout smartphone application on enhancing the performance of functional vision; reading and medicine recognition in patients with macular disease.

Methodology: The comparative quasi-experimental study was a within-subject study carried out at the Low Vision Clinic, Mayo Hospital, between April and September 2025 following the Ethical Review Board approval. At 5% significance, 80% power of test, and 95% confidence level there was a calculated total sample of 36 participants. Since the same participants were measured in both of the conditions, within-subject design was used. Each participant used the app to complete a two-functional vision task, including short-text reading and medicine identification, in two different conditions, first without the app and secondly with the Google Lookout application. A ten-minute instruction on using the app and the interpretation of voice feedback was given to the participants before the test with the app. Both conditions were time taken and accuracy. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test with the level of significance of p <0.05 was used in data analysis.

Results:  Google Lookout was found to be helpful in enhancing the accuracy of reading and medicine-recognition tasks. The mean reading accuracy improved between 9.4 ±1.6(without app) and 13.1 ±1.2 (with app) (p <0.001) and the performance of medicine-identification was also significantly improved (p = 0.001). In spite of the fact that the time to complete tasks was higher because of the audio processing stage and the additional time required for comprehension. The general accuracy of the tasks and the rates of success were higher. According to these findings, Google Lookout is useful in supporting activities that rely on central vision and improving functional independence of macular disease patients.

Conclusion: The Google Lookout app effectively enhances the accuracy of reading and medicine-recognition tasks in patients with macular disease, supporting its role as a supplementary low-vision rehabilitation tool.