Visual Field Testing Eye Imaging for Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current visual field testing methods face challenges in accurately determining the reliability of results due to issues like gaze direction errors, eyelid closure, and improper eye alignment, which can lead to erroneous recordings and increased testing time, with existing gaze tracking systems providing limited quantitative data and inability to retrospectively identify causes of defects.
Innovation Solution
Recording images of the eye during each stimulus presentation and storing them for review, allowing clinicians to assess potential artifacts caused by gaze errors, eyelid closure, or trial lens blockage, and using these images to enhance the reliability of visual field test results by associating them with specific test locations and gaze error plots.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If gaze tracking systems are used to monitor fixation, then fixation monitoring is improved, but the systems provide limited quantitative data and cannot retrospectively identify causes of defects
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a visual copy (image) of the eye and trial lens holder position during each stimulus presentation. This image serves as a permanent record that can be retrospectively analyzed to determine the cause of defective measurements, providing both qualitative visualization and quantitative measurement capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The recorded eye image acts as an intermediary between the stimulus presentation and the measurement result. By examining the recorded image, clinicians can determine whether the defective measurement was caused by gaze errors, eyelid closure, or improper alignment, thus mediating the interpretation of the measurement data.
2Measurement precision
If multiple stimulus presentations are made to determine threshold sensitivity, then measurement precision is improved, but testing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides immediate feedback by recording the eye position and trial lens holder location during each stimulus presentation. This feedback mechanism allows clinicians to identify and eliminate defective measurements caused by gaze errors or alignment issues, reducing the number of repeated presentations needed and thus reducing overall testing time while maintaining precision.
3Reliability
If operators continuously monitor video presentation, then real-time detection of fixation errors is improved, but operator attention is diverted from other tasks
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-monitoring by automatically recording the eye position and trial lens holder location during stimulus presentations. This eliminates the need for continuous operator monitoring, allowing operators to perform other tasks while the system autonomously captures and stores the necessary visual data for later analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a permanent visual record (copy) of the eye and trial lens holder position that can be reviewed later. This eliminates the need for real-time operator monitoring, as the recorded images serve as a permanent reference that can be examined when needed without diverting operator attention from other tasks.
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 approach provides clinicians with additional information to identify unreliable test results, increasing confidence in the validity of visual field data by objectively evaluating eye alignment, eyelid status, and gaze direction, thereby improving the reliability of visual field testing.
Implementation Method 1
gaze tracking combining video measurement of locations of reflections off the corneal surface with detection of pupil center location
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for improving the reliability of visual field test results are presented. In one embodiment, images of the eye are recorded during the presentation of visual stimuli and are displayed to the user to provide information on eye motion, eye position relative to trial lens, and eyelid closure during the test. Individual or combined images can be displayed for individual stimuli, specific test points, or points in the gaze trace in various embodiments of the invention.