Vision Augmentation and Human-Centred AI - Junlei Hong

As wearable displays and AI-driven interfaces become part of everyday life, understanding how they interact with human vision, attention, and decision-making is an increasingly important area of research. This body of work sits at the intersection of augmented reality (AR), human-computer interaction (HCI), and consumer-facing AI, exploring how digital systems can support rather than compete with human perception.

One strand of this research investigates visual discomfort in AR glasses, where digital content is overlaid directly onto the real world. This includes identifying the causes of visual noise and discomfort in optical see-through displays, and exploring light attenuation as a way of selectively dimming the real-world background. This work spans both foundational research into why visual discomfort occurs and applied techniques for reducing it in long-term wearable AR hardware.

A parallel strand looks beyond wearable displays to examine how AI is reshaping everyday digital interactions, such as AI-generated overviews appearing in online product search. This research explores how these AI summaries influence consumer attention, trust, and decision-making during the online shopping journey.

Published Research:

Hong, J., Langlotz, T., Sutton, J., & Regenbrecht, H. (2024). Visual noise cancellation: Exploring visual discomfort and opportunities for vision augmentations. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 31(2), 1–26.
Hong, J., Sutton, J., & Langlotz, T. (2026). Light attenuation for visual noise cancellation. In 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct (ISMAR-Adjunct). IEEE. Manuscript accepted for publication.
Roderick, C., Williams, J., & Hong, J. (2026). AI overviews in online product search. In Proceedings of the 2026 Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference (ANZMAC). Manuscript accepted for publication.