Simultaneous Multi-Temporal Visual Test for Deficit Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current visual testing methods are inefficient and invasive, often requiring lengthy procedures, sedation, and sterile environments, and fail to accurately assess visual deficits beyond the retina, particularly in sensitive populations and regions of the visual field.
Innovation Solution
A simultaneously multi-temporal visual test displaying multiple patterns at different frequencies and phases across the visual field, capturing electrical brain activity to determine visual deficits using Fourier transforms and comparing frequency components to assess likelihood of conditions like glaucoma and macular degeneration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional visual field tests are performed one region at a time, then measurement precision is improved, but testing time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The visual field is segmented into multiple regions (e.g., superior, inferior, nasal, temporal quadrants), and each region is assigned a distinct temporal frequency. This allows simultaneous testing of multiple regions while maintaining the ability to analyze each region's response separately through frequency decomposition, thus reducing overall testing time while preserving measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
Visual stimuli are presented as periodic patterns that reverse in contrast or color at different temporal frequencies for different visual field regions. The periodic nature of these stimuli allows the use of Fourier transforms to resolve and analyze the periodic electrical brain activity responses corresponding to each frequency, enabling simultaneous multi-regional assessment.
2Measurement precision
If electroretinogram is used for visual testing, then retinal function is assessed, but the procedure becomes invasive requiring electrode attachment and sedation
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of directly measuring retinal electrical activity through corneal or scleral electrodes (electroretinogram), the invention uses visual evoked potentials recorded from scalp electrodes as an intermediary measure. The visual stimuli are processed through the retina and optic nerve to the visual cortex, and the resulting electrical brain activity serves as a non-invasive proxy for assessing retinal and visual pathway function.
Solution Approach 2:
The invasive mechanical electrode attachment to the eye (electroretinogram) is replaced with non-invasive scalp electrode placement to record visual evoked potentials. This substitution eliminates the need for sedation and sterile environments while still providing functional assessment of the visual pathway from retina to brain.
3Measurement precision
If conventional visual tests require overt responses from subjects, then response accuracy is obtained, but testing becomes problematic for certain populations
Solution Approach 1:
The testing system uses the subject's own visual system to generate the response signal. Visual evoked potentials are automatically produced by the visual cortex in response to the presented stimuli, eliminating the need for the subject to provide overt responses. This self-generating response mechanism makes the test applicable to populations including prelingual, nonlingual, elderly, and cognitively impaired individuals.
4Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If electroretinogram is used to identify visual deficits, then retinal function is detected, but deficits in other visual pathway regions remain undetected
Solution Approach 1:
The visual evoked potential testing method serves multiple functions: it assesses retinal function, optic nerve function, and visual cortex function all through a single testing paradigm. By recording electrical brain activity in response to visual stimuli and analyzing the temporal and frequency characteristics, the system provides comprehensive coverage of the entire visual pathway from retina to brain, making it universally applicable for detecting deficits at any level.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method allows for rapid, non-invasive assessment of visual deficits across the entire visual pathway, including the retina, optic nerve, and brain, reducing testing time and improving accuracy for diverse populations without requiring overt responses or sterile environments.
Implementation Method 1
Electrical activity of the brain of the subject is captured and sampled into a signal, and one or more frequency components are resolved from the signal, where each frequency component corresponds to a different display frequency
Implementation Method 2
one or more frequency components are resolved from the signal, where each frequency component corresponds to a different display frequency
Data Source
AI summary
A method for determining a likelihood of a visual deficit in a subject uses a simultaneously multi-temporal visual test. At least two visual patterns are simultaneously displayed to the subject. Each pattern reverses in contrast or color at a different display frequency, and each pattern is displayed to a different region of the subject's visual field. Electrical activity of the brain of the subject is captured and sampled, and one or more frequency components are resolved from the resulting signal, where each frequency component corresponds to a different display frequency. The method then involves determining from the frequency components, optionally by comparison between the eyes, a measurement of a likelihood that a visual deficit exists in a particular area.