Sports PerformanceNCT04309188
Stroboscopic Vision Training in Softball
A study testing Senaptec Strobe Glasses and Standard softball drills in people with Sports Performance and Vision, Ocular, run by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
Enhanced sports performance, in our current world, is being pushed at the professional level and down to school-age children as well. Money is being spent on lessons and equipment to enhance performance. One new method to enhance performance is stroboscopic vision goggles. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 14 to 18 years, women onlyHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Sports Performance, Vision, Ocular
- What is being tested?
- Senaptec Strobe Glasses and Standard softball drills
- Type of treatment
- Medical device
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 34 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 1 Apr 2021to 29 Sep 2027
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 14 to 18 years
- Women only
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Child, Adult
Who may be able to join
- 1) Age 14-18 years 2) females; 3) high school softball
Who cannot join
- 1) Prior use of stroboscopic vision training; 2) History of seizures; 3) History of vestibular impairments
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Lubbock, Texas, 79430
About this study
Official title: Effect of Stroboscopic Vision Training in a Softball Season: A Randomized Controlled Trial Pilot Study
Enhanced sports performance, in our current world, is being pushed at the professional level and down to school-age children as well. Money is being spent on lessons and equipment to enhance performance. One new method to enhance performance is stroboscopic vision goggles. The glasses lenses flicker removing visual information for a brief moment. The claim is that they train connections between the eyes, brain, and body. We want to see if this product truly does enhance visual performance during a softball season for high school girls.
Read the detailed description
In today's sports world, every strategy to perform at the highest level is needed. Current literature is demonstrating enhanced sports performance using stroboscopic vision training.1,2,5 The objective of this randomized controlled trial is to measure the effect of a stroboscopic visual training in a high school softball season in comparison to controls. Athletes in the control group will go through normal practice drills for hitting and fielding. The stroboscopic training (experimental group) will use the strobe glasses during hitting and fielding drills two times a week in practice. The brand of strobe glasses is Senaptec Strobe. Athletes in both the experimental and control groups will have their vision assessed at the beginning of the season and end by The West Texas Vision Center. Measurements for vision will include developmental eye movement, vergence ranges, Randot stereopsis test, accommodative ranges, acuity, and stereo scores. On-field performance measurements will be collected for batting statistics including on-base percentage, batting average, slugging percentage, and hard-hit ball percentage in both the experimental and control groups. The current year batting statistics will be compared with the prior year statistics if enough at-bats occurred. In addition, to the vision and on-field hitting performance proprioception balance using the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) will be measured at the beginning of the season and end for both groups. Our data will provide quantified information for coaches, athletes, and health care providers concerning the benefits of the strobe glasses warrant buying to enhance sports performance. Additionally, we wish to determine whether visual-motor and proprioception balance changes occur after the training.
- Conditions
- Sports Performance, Vision, Ocular
- Being tested
- Senaptec Strobe Glasses, Standard softball drills
- Keywords
- Stroboscopic, Vision Training, Softball, On-field performance
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Senaptec Strobe GlassesDevice
The glasses use liquid crystal technology that causes a flicker from clear to opaque to enhance vision.
Standard softball drillsOther
Control group, which will perform normal hitting and fielding drills without stroboscopic training
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Stroboscopic Training Group | Experimental | Treatment group, which will receive stroboscopic training during hitting and fielding drills. The glasses look like sunglasses but have liquid crystal technology that causes a flicker from clear to opaque. The glasses flickering will be controlled on the side of the glasses by the researcher. When the athlete can complete a skill proficiently by catching or hitting during training the level of flickering will be increased to challenge the visual system more. Receives: Device: Senaptec Strobe Glasses |
| Standard softball drills | Active comparator | Control group, which will perform normal hitting and fielding drills without stroboscopic training Receives: Other: Standard softball drills |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Vergence ranges
Vergence ranges measured how many prism diopters the subject can turn their eyes in (base out) and how far they can relax them out (base in). This score is also a good measure of how much peripheral fusion a person has.
Measured: 8 weeks
Secondary outcomes (7)
Developmental eye movement
Developmental eye movement will measure how fast the subject can track numbers vertically and horizontally.
Measured: 8 weeks
Randot stereopsis test
Randot stereopsis test will measures how many ARC seconds of stereo the subject has. This test measures the subject's magno and parvocellular stereo tracking their peripheral or central fusion.
Measured: 8 weeks
Accommodative ranges
Accommodative ranges will measure how many times the subject can clear an image looking through a plus and minus accommodation flipper in thirty seconds.
Measured: 8 weeks
Acuity
Acuity will measure the clarity of vision at a distance of twenty feet.
Measured: 8 weeks
Stereo Scores
Stereo Scores will measure how quickly the athlete recognizes depth perception
Measured: 8 weeks
Batting statistics
Batting statistics including on-base percentage, batting average, slugging percentage, hard-hit ball percentage will be provided by the coach at the end of the season for the current year and prior year. Subjects will need a minimum of 20 at-bats in a season for collection of these statistics.
Measured: 8 weeks
Balance Error Scoring System (BESS)
Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) measures the total number of postural errors committed in a 30-second trial standing on flat surface and foam pad. It provides a measure of balance and proprioceptive ability.
Measured: 8 weeks
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted16 Mar 2020
- Study start1 Apr 2021
- Primary completion29 May 2021
- Study completion29 Sep 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (6)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Sports PerformanceStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- The pilot study will use a pre-test post-test randomized controlled trial.
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 34 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04309188
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- L20-095
- Status last verified
- Jun 2026
- First submitted
- 12 Mar 2020
- Last updated
- 29 Jun 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Appelbaum LG, Cain MS, Schroeder JE, Darling EF, Mitroff SR. Stroboscopic visual training improves information encoding in short-term memory. Atten Percept Psychophys. 2012 Nov;74(8):1681-91. doi: 10.3758/s13414-012-0344-6.
PubMed 22810559Ballester R, Huertas F, Uji M, Bennett SJ. Stroboscopic vision and sustained attention during coincidence-anticipation. Sci Rep. 2017 Dec 20;7(1):17898. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-18092-5.
PubMed 29263340Mitroff SR, Friesen P, Bennett D, Yoo H, Reichow AW. Enhancing ice hockey: Skills through stroboscopic visual training: A Pilot Study. Athl Train Sports Health Care. 2013;5(6):261-264
Wilkins L, Nelson C, Tweddle S. Stroboscopic visual training: A pilot study with three elite youth football goalkeepers. J Cogn Enhanc. 2018;2:3-11.
Hays JB, Korba BE. DNA from recombinogenic lambda bacteriophages generated by arl mutant of Escherichia coli is cleaved by single-strand-specific endonuclease S1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Dec;76(12):6066-70. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.12.6066.
PubMed 160560Grooms DR, Chaudhari A, Page SJ, Nichols-Larsen DS, Onate JA. Visual-Motor Control of Drop Landing After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction. J Athl Train. 2018 May;53(5):486-496. doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-178-16. Epub 2018 May 11.
PubMed 29749751
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 29 Jun 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Effect of Stroboscopic Vision Training in a Softball Season: A Randomized Controlled Trial Pilot Study
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04309188
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- L20-095
- Conditions
- Sports Performance, Vision, Ocular
- Keywords
- Stroboscopic, Vision Training, Softball, On-field performance
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Active, not recruiting
- Enrolment
- 34 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Texas Tech University Health Sciences CenterUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 1 Apr 2021 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 29 May 2021 (actual)
- Study completion
- 29 Sep 2027 (estimated)
- First posted
- 16 Mar 2020 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Enhanced sports performance, in our current world, is being pushed at the professional level and down to school-age children as well. Money is being spent on lessons and equipment to enhance performance. One new method to enhance performance is stroboscopic vision goggles. The glasses lenses flicker removing visual information for a brief moment. The claim is that they train connections between the eyes, brain, and body. We want to see if this product truly does enhance visual performance during a softball season for high school girls.
Detailed description
In today's sports world, every strategy to perform at the highest level is needed. Current literature is demonstrating enhanced sports performance using stroboscopic vision training.1,2,5 The objective of this randomized controlled trial is to measure the effect of a stroboscopic visual training in a high school softball season in comparison to controls. Athletes in the control group will go through normal practice drills for hitting and fielding. The stroboscopic training (experimental group) will use the strobe glasses during hitting and fielding drills two times a week in practice. The brand of strobe glasses is Senaptec Strobe. Athletes in both the experimental and control groups will have their vision assessed at the beginning of the season and end by The West Texas Vision Center. Measurements for vision will include developmental eye movement, vergence ranges, Randot stereopsis test, accommodative ranges, acuity, and stereo scores. On-field performance measurements will be collected for batting statistics including on-base percentage, batting average, slugging percentage, and hard-hit ball percentage in both the experimental and control groups. The current year batting statistics will be compared with the prior year statistics if enough at-bats occurred. In addition, to the vision and on-field hitting performance proprioception balance using the Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) will be measured at the beginning of the season and end for both groups. Our data will provide quantified information for coaches, athletes, and health care providers concerning the benefits of the strobe glasses warrant buying to enhance sports performance. Additionally, we wish to determine whether visual-motor and proprioception balance changes occur after the training.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
- Model description
- The pilot study will use a pre-test post-test randomized controlled trial.
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Stroboscopic Training Group | Experimental | Device: Senaptec Strobe GlassesTreatment group, which will receive stroboscopic training during hitting and fielding drills. The glasses look like sunglasses but have liquid crystal technology that causes a flicker from clear to opaque. The glasses flickering will be controlled on the side of the glasses by the researcher. When the athlete can complete a skill proficiently by catching or hitting during training the level of flickering will be increased to challenge the visual system more. |
| Standard softball drills | Active comparator | Other: Standard softball drillsControl group, which will perform normal hitting and fielding drills without stroboscopic training |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 14 to 18 years
- Sex
- Female only
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Child, Adult
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- 1) Age 14-18 years 2) females; 3) high school softball
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- 1) Prior use of stroboscopic vision training; 2) History of seizures; 3) History of vestibular impairments
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Senaptec Strobe GlassesThe glasses use liquid crystal technology that causes a flicker from clear to opaque to enhance vision. | Device | Stroboscopic Training Group |
| Standard softball drillsControl group, which will perform normal hitting and fielding drills without stroboscopic training | Other | Standard softball drills |
Primary outcome
Vergence ranges
Time frame: 8 weeks
Vergence ranges measured how many prism diopters the subject can turn their eyes in (base out) and how far they can relax them out (base in). This score is also a good measure of how much peripheral fusion a person has.
7 secondary outcomes
Developmental eye movement
Time frame: 8 weeks
Randot stereopsis test
Time frame: 8 weeks
Accommodative ranges
Time frame: 8 weeks
Acuity
Time frame: 8 weeks
Stereo Scores
Time frame: 8 weeks
Batting statistics
Time frame: 8 weeks
Balance Error Scoring System (BESS)
Time frame: 8 weeks
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 29 Jun 2026.
- Background: PubMed 22810559Appelbaum LG, Cain MS, Schroeder JE, Darling EF, Mitroff SR. Stroboscopic visual training improves information encoding in short-term memory. Atten Percept Psychophys. 2012 Nov;74(8):1681-91. doi: 10.3758/s13414-012-0344-6.
- Background: PubMed 29263340Ballester R, Huertas F, Uji M, Bennett SJ. Stroboscopic vision and sustained attention during coincidence-anticipation. Sci Rep. 2017 Dec 20;7(1):17898. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-18092-5.
- BackgroundMitroff SR, Friesen P, Bennett D, Yoo H, Reichow AW. Enhancing ice hockey: Skills through stroboscopic visual training: A Pilot Study. Athl Train Sports Health Care. 2013;5(6):261-264
- BackgroundWilkins L, Nelson C, Tweddle S. Stroboscopic visual training: A pilot study with three elite youth football goalkeepers. J Cogn Enhanc. 2018;2:3-11.
- Background: PubMed 160560Hays JB, Korba BE. DNA from recombinogenic lambda bacteriophages generated by arl mutant of Escherichia coli is cleaved by single-strand-specific endonuclease S1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Dec;76(12):6066-70. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.12.6066.
- Background: PubMed 29749751Grooms DR, Chaudhari A, Page SJ, Nichols-Larsen DS, Onate JA. Visual-Motor Control of Drop Landing After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction. J Athl Train. 2018 May;53(5):486-496. doi: 10.4085/1062-6050-178-16. Epub 2018 May 11.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Senaptec Strobe Glasses and Standard softball drills in people with Sports Performance and Vision, Ocular, run by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: under way, not looking for participants, as of the sponsor's last update on 29 Jun 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Vergence ranges (time frame: 8 weeks). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT04309188, which also lists 6 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 29 Jun 2026.