Effect of telescopic spectacles on head stability in normal and low vision

Telescopic spectacles, highly magnifying visual aids mounted in spectacle frames, markedly alter the visual consequences of head movements. To evaluate the effect of this altered visual feedback on head stability, angular head velocity of normally sighted and low vision subjects was measured in the roll, pitch, and yaw axes. Measurements were made under two postural conditions: (1) quiet standing; and (2) walking in place, as well as three visual conditions: (1) eyes closed; (2) unmagnified vision; and (3) vision with 4 x binocular telescopic spectacles. For normal subjects during quiet standing, both unmagnified vision and vision with telescopic spectacles tended to reduce spontaneous head velocity in all axes as compared to the eyes-closed condition. However, in low vision subjects neither unmagnified vision nor vision with telescopic spectacles produced significant changes in values of head velocity relative to those measured with eyes closed. Spontaneous head velocities for standing low vision subjects tended to be higher than in normal subjects, although not all differences were statistically significant. During walking in place, Fourier analysis demonstrated prominent frequency components related to harmonics of the walking frequency under all viewing conditions. In normal subjects, vision with telescopic spectacles, to a greater degree than unmagnified vision, reduced head velocity during walking in the roll and yaw, but not the pitch, axes. For low vision subjects, significant reductions in head velocity during walking were observed only during vision with telescopic spectacles. These findings indicate that vision reduces angular instability of the head during standing and walking. Magnification produced by telescopic spectacles further improves head stability under some conditions, although the effect of vision is least evident in the pitch axis. The stabilizing effect of vision is reduced in low vision subjects.