Testing for glaucoma with the spatial frequency doubling illusion
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Updated: Jul 19, 2026
Assessing Early Stage Open-Angle Glaucoma in Patients by Isolated-Check Visual Evoked Potential
Published on: May 25, 2020
T Maddess1, I Goldberg, J Dobinson
1Centre for Visual Sciences, Research School of Biological Science, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia. ted.maddess@anu.edu.au
Abstract:
We examined the performance of tests for glaucoma based on the spatial frequency doubling (FD) illusion. Contrast thresholds for seeing the FD illusion in four large visual field regions were measured from 340 subjects who were tested up to seven times over 2 years. Median sensitivities of 91% at specificities of 95% were obtained. Test-retest variability for the worst hemifield thresholds averaged 2.22 db +/- 0.09 S.E. for all tested groups, and significant progression was observed for glaucoma suspects over the seven visits, indicating that tests based on the FD illusion can detect diffuse early glaucomatous loss.
