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Effects of brightness variations on a smartphone-based version of Radner reading charts
Paolo A Grasso1, Massimo Gurioli2, Laura Boccardo2,3
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. paolo.grasso@unifi.it.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the equivalence of smartphone-based measurements of near visual acuity under different screen brightness conditions with a standard near visual acuity test.
Methods:
On a sample of 85 participants, we have evaluated near visual acuity with a smartphone-based version of the Radner reading chart at three distinct screen brightness levels. Results have been compared with those obtained with classical Radner paper charts.
Results:
We have found that, when a sufficient screen brightness is employed, the smartphone-based version of the Radner reading chart produces results that are in line with the paper Radner charts while low brightness levels lead to a significant underestimation of reading acuities. This result was consistent across different refractive conditions.
Conclusions:
In conclusion, we have shown that handheld devices, such as smartphones, can be potentially exploited for remote measurements of near visual acuity provided a correct control of brightness screen is employed.
