Monitoring eye movement with a computer based Electro-oculogram (EOG)

This project investigated ways to improve retinal laser surgery techniques. Currently, the surgery is manual and not very accurate because the eye has a tendency to move involuntarily and the laser can cause permanent damage to the patient if the eye moves out of range. Therefore, an Electro-oculogram (EOG) system was designed and tested capable of recording eye movement in both horizontal and vertical directions using the voltages produced by the eye for the purpose of feedback to the surgeon. The EOG system consisted of various filters and amplifiers to amplify the small signals created by the eye, which were obtained using surface electrodes placed around the eyes. An LED board was also designed for the subject to follow various LED lights with his/her eyes in all directions. A program was written with LabView software that was used to control the LED board as well as record and analyze the EOG signals. MatLab was used in correlation with LabView to perform additional filtering and to find the mean, root square mean, and standard deviation of the signal. This data was used to determine if a relationship exists between the direction of eye movement and the voltage produced by the eye. The EOG system and LED board operated as expected and the LabView program was capable of recording and analyzing the signals. The information gathered from this project could make retinal laser surgery more precise and safer by alleviating the potential for error and therefore unintentional damage to the patient.