Binocular correlation of ocular aberration dynamics

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Vision Science
• Optical Engineering

Background:

• Accommodation fluctuations are known to correlate between subjects' eyes.
• Previous research has not explored the dynamic, frequency-domain correlation of higher-order aberrations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the dynamic correlation of higher-order ocular aberrations between the two eyes in the frequency domain.
• To analyze the influence of subject, Zernike mode, and frequency on inter-ocular aberration correlation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a binocular Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor for concurrent measurement of ocular wavefront aberrations in both eyes.
• Employed a sampling rate of 20.5 Hz for dynamic data acquisition.
• Performed coherence function analysis to assess inter-ocular correlation.

Main Results:

• Inter-ocular correlation of aberrations was found to be dependent on the subject, Zernike mode, and frequency.
• Generally low coherence values (mean 0.11) across the resolvable frequency range indicated poor dynamic correlation between the eyes' aberrations.
• Phase consistency was identified as the primary contributor to the observed coherence values.
• Power spectral density functions remained similar under both monocular and binocular viewing conditions.

Conclusions:

• Dynamic correlation of higher-order ocular aberrations between the two eyes is generally poor.
• Phase consistency plays a dominant role in the limited inter-ocular correlation observed.
• The findings contribute to understanding binocular vision and optical aberrations.