2. Summary of methodologies in published studies of binocular treatment for amblyopia.
| Treatment | N | Age range (mean) | Control group | Type of amblyopia | Previous treatment other than glasses | Treatment duration | Daily dose received | Total dose received | |
| Hess 2010a; Hess 2010b | Anti‐suppression: dichoptic coherent motion, via lenticular overlay, red‐green glasses or head‐mounted display | 9 | 24 to 49 (39.6) | No | Strabismic, combined mechanism | 5/9 occlusion | Around 60 trials/block (0.5 to 3.7 per week, i.e. 1 to 3 hours in 2 to 3 days for 2 to 6 weeks) | ‐ | 8.2 blocks per week (SD 6.3) |
| Hess 2012 | Anti‐suppression: Tetris game with modulation of contrast on iPod | 10 | 17 to 51 (33.8) | No | All | 4/10 occlusion | 0.5 to 2 hours per day for 1 to 9 weeks | 45 min to 1 hour | 15 sessions (SD 4) |
| Knox 2012 | Anti‐suppression: Tetris game using head‐mounted display goggles | 14 | 5 to 14 (8.5) | No | All | All occlusion (at least 6 months) | 1 hour for 5 days in 1 week | 1 hour | 5 hours |
| To 2011 | Anti‐suppression: Tetris game, interleaved breaks, via lenticular layer | 9 | 18 to 51 (35.5) | No | All | Not specified | 10 to 19 sessions | Not specified | 15.75 hours (0.88 to 27.42 hours per week) |
| Li 2014 | Anti‐suppression: binocular games through anaglyph glasses (contrast increment in fellow eye) | 45/50 binocular group; 24/25 sham group | 4 to 12 | Yes (sham game and +/‐ occlusion) | All | 77% occlusion or atropine for around 1.9 years (n = 58) | 4 hours/week for 4 weeks (+ 4 weeks in 60% binocular, but no gain) | ‐ | ≥ 1 hour per week, 4 weeks (i.e. 25% prescribed dose) |
| Kelly 2016 | Anti‐suppression: binocular iPad adventure game: red/green anaglyphic glasses worn to separate game elements; high contrast elements seen by amblyopic eye with altered contrast to fellow eye relative to visual acuity level | 28 | 4 to 10 (6.78) | Yes | All | None | 10 hours total (1 hour a day for 5 days over 2 weeks) | 1 hour per day | 10 hours |
| Gao 2018 | Anti‐suppression: falling blocks game on iPod with dichoptic offset of contrast | 115 (11 7 to 8 years of age) | > 7 years (age range not specified) | Yes (placebo) | All | No | 1 to 2 hours daily for six weeks | – | >10.5hrs (i.e. 25% of prescribed dose) |
| Sauvan 2019 | Anti‐suppression: dichoptic movie design: parts of image seen by one eye and complementary parts by the other with unequal contrast to amblyopic and non amblyopic eye | 17 | 9 to 67 years (34.47) |
Yes (sham ‐ treatment and patch for 2 hours prior to treatment) | All | 7/17 previous occlusion treatment | 6 x 1.5 hour dichoptic movie sessions for both groups; patched group augmented with 2 hours of patching prior to session | – | 16/17 participants ‐ 9 hours 1/17 participant – 7.5 hours |
| Birch 2020 | Anti‐suppression: binocular iPad adventure game: red/green anaglyphic glasses worn to separate game elements; high contrast elements seen by amblyopic eye with altered contrast to fellow eye relative to visual acuity level | 47 | 4.3 to 10.8 (6.8) |
Yes | All | 58% previous patching, atropine or both | 10 x 1 hour session over 2 weeks | 1 hour 5 days a week | 10 hours |
| Vedamurthy 2015a | Dichoptic action video‐games | 38 | 39.18 years | Yes (sham ‐ watching movies monocularly with patch on) | All | 25/38 previous occlusion treatment | Total treatment time 40 hours | – | 1.5 to 2 hours for 2 to 5 times per week |
| Vedamurthy 2015b | Dichoptic action video‐games | 23 | 39.57 (15.74) | No | All | Not stated | Total treatment 40 hours | Not stated | Not stated |
| Waddingham 2006 | I‐BiT™: videos and modified video games (imbalanced visual scene to favour amblyopic eye) | 6 | 5.42 to 7.75 (6.25) | No | All | 3 occlusion; 3 neither occlusion nor atropine | 7 to 15 sessions of 20 minutes each | 1 to 2 sessions of 20 minutes twice a week | mean 4.4 hours |
| Herbison 2013 | I‐BiT™: videos and modified video games (imbalanced visual scene to favour amblyopic eye) | 10 | 4 to 8 (5.4) | No | All | All, occlusion or atropine | 6 weeks, 0 to 10 games + 15 to 30 videos | 0 to 10 to 15 to 30 min per day | 159.3 min |
| Herbison 2016 | I‐BiT™: videos and modified video games (imbalanced visual scene to favour amblyopic eye) | 75 | 4 to 8 (separate means per group) | No | All | All, occlusion or atropine | 30 minutes a week for six weeks | – | 3 hours |
| Bossi 2017 | Balanced binocular viewing: watching modified movies wearing 3D glasses | 22 | 3.5 to 11.3 (6.6) | No | All | None | Anisometropia – 56 hours Strabismus – 168 hours |
56 min per day | Not reported |