Foveation time measure in Congenital Nystagmus through second order approximation of the slow phases

Giulio Pasquariello*, Mario Cesarelli, Paolo Bifulco, Maria Romano, Antonio Fratini, Antonio la Gatta

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference outputConference publication

Abstract

Congenital Nystagmus (CN) is an ocular-motor disorder characterised by involuntary, conjugated ocular oscillations, and its pathogenesis is still unknown. The pathology is de fined as "congenital" from the onset time of its arise which could be at birth or in the first months of life. Visual acuity in CN subjects is often diminished due to nystagmus continuous oscillations, mainly on the horizontal plane, which disturb image fixation on the retina. However, during short periods in which eye velocity slows down while the target image is placed onto the fovea (called foveation intervals) the image of a given target can still be stable, allowing a subject to reach a higher visual acuity. In CN subjects, visual acuity is usually assessed both using typical measurement techniques (e.g. Landolt C test) and with eye movement recording in different gaze positions. The offline study of eye movement recordings allows physicians to analyse nystagmus main features such as waveform shape, amplitude and frequency and to compute estimated visual acuity predictors. This analytical functions estimates the best corrected visual acuity using foveation time and foveation position variability, hence a reliable estimation of this two parameters is a fundamental factor in assessing visual acuity. This work aims to enhance the foveation time estimation in CN eye movement recording, computing a second order approximation of the slow phase components of nystag-mus oscillations. About 19 infraredoculographic eye-movement recordings from 10 CN subjects were acquired and the visual acuity assessed with an acuity predictor was compared to the one measured in primary position. Results suggest that visual acuity measurements based on foveation time estimation obtained from interpolated data are closer to value obtained during Landolt C tests.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationITAB2010 : 10th International Conference on Information Technology and Applications in Biomedicine
Subtitle of host publicationemerging technologies for patient specific healthcare
PublisherIEEE
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-4244-6560-6
ISBN (Print)978-1-4244-6559-0
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2010
Event10th International Conference on Information Technology and Applications in Biomedicine - Corfu, Greece
Duration: 2 Nov 20105 Nov 2010

Conference

Conference10th International Conference on Information Technology and Applications in Biomedicine
Abbreviated titleITAB 2010
Country/TerritoryGreece
CityCorfu
Period2/11/105/11/10
OtherEmerging Technologies for Patient Specific Healthcare

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