John Brabyn
Smith-Kettlewell Executive Director and RERC Director
It has been my honor to serve as The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute's Executive Director since 2011, and I also serve as Director of our Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC). The Center's research goal is to develop and apply new scientific knowledge and practical, cost-effective devices to understand and address better the real-world problems of blind, visually impaired, and deaf-blind consumers. The RERC has many ongoing R&D projects and collaborative relationships, both internal and external to Smith-Kettlewell. Primary funding for the RERC comes from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, with other important sources of support, including the National Eye Institute, and Smith-Kettlewell.
Tabs
Contact Information
The Smith Kettlewell Eye Research Institute
2318 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
Room #
230
Email:
brabyn@ski.org
Office Phone:
(415) 345-2110
. (2012). Acoustic cues used by blind travelers. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 131, 3516–3516.
. (2008). Quality-of-life technology for vision and hearing loss [Highlights of Recent Developments and Current Challenges in Technology]. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, 27.
. (2008). A mobile phone system to find crosswalks for visually impaired pedestrians. Technology and disability, 20, 217–224.
. (1997). The SKILL Card. An acuity test of reduced luminance and contrast. Smith-Kettlewell Institute Low Luminance. Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 38, 207–218.
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center
The Center's research goal is to develop and apply new scientific knowledge and practical, cost-effective devices to understand and address better the real-world problems of blind, visually impaired, and deaf-blind consumers. The RERC has many ongoing R&D projects and collaborative relationships,...
Brabyn Lab
My lab is the home for the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center funded by NIDILRR with additional support from SKERI and other agencies. Together we address problems of blindness and visual impairment, particularly problems faced by our target populaiton that may be amenable to...
State of the Science Conference On Rehabilitation Technology & Methods For a Changing Population
Date: Friday, December 4, 2015
Location: The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, 2318 Fillmore St., San Francisco CA 94115
The goal of this invitation-only conference was to identify needs for future research in rehabilitation technology, methods for the blind and visually...
Assessment of Speechreading with dual sensory loss: Visual and Hearing Impairments
The purpose of this research study is to test subjects who have various hearing and vision problems on their lipreading, visual and auditory skills in order to understand the relationships between lipreading and visual impairment. We then can explore training strategies to improve auditory and...
Hearing Aid for Blind Travelers with Hearing Loss
Blind travelers rely on subtle acoustic cues for independent mobility. When hearing becomes impaired, as in the normal aging process, a special type of hearing aid may be needed to enhance these cues.
RERC Center Grant
The RERC Center Grant funds a number of projects for blind and visually impaired persons. The projects broadly fall into the categories of Functional Assessment, Access to Spatial and Graphic Information, and STEM Education.
Acoustic Cues for Wayfinding
This project aims to do a detailed analysis of the environmental acoustic cues that help some blind navigate successfully.
The Smith-Kettlewell Haptics Symposium
Date: Thursday, March 29, 2018
Location: The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, 2318 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA 94115
The goal of this...
Reading, Vision Function and Disease Progression in Early to Intermediate AMD
Most prior research on reading in people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) has focused on those with advanced disease. The first goal of this project is to examine the visual, motor, and cognitive factors that contribute to reading performance in people with early to...