A novel and cheap method to correlate subjective and objective visual acuity by using the optokinetic response

To describe a novel optokinetic visual acuity estimator (Oktotype) and to report the preliminary results obtained in poorly and non-collaborative subjects.

Eleven series of symbols arranged horizontally and moving from left to right at a constant rate were displayed. In each sequence, the size of the stimuli was reduced logarithmically. By using this paradigm, the objective visual acuity was computed in 26 normal subjects as the minimum size of the symbols able to evoke the optokinetic response. In the preliminary phase, three contrast levels were tested, with white noise added to the first five sequences so as to normalize the overestimate found at the lower-half range of the acuity scale. Subsequently, the correspondence between subjective and objective visual acuity was compared in 10 poorly collaborative subjects, and the agreement between optokinetic and Teller visual acuity was measured in six non-collaborative subjects.

The best agreement is provided by the minimum contrast level (20%) (R ² = 0.74). The correspondence between the two techniques is satisfying both in the normal and in the poorly collaborative sample (concordance correlation coefficient: 0.85 and 0.83, respectively). In the non-collaborative group, the concordance correlation coefficient between Teller acuity and OKVA ranged between 0.79 (test) and 0.85 (retest). Test-retest reliability was very good for the Oktotype (K: 0.82), and better than the Teller test (K = 0.71), even if it was lower compared to Snellen acuity (K = 0.95).

The Oktotype seems promising to predict Snellen visual acuity in normal and poorly collaborative subjects.