The Effect of Gaze Fixation Induction Method on Visual Field Testing

Abstract

A visual field tester using a fixation target with a lack of distinctiveness decreases accuracy and usability in visual field testing. The present study is intended to develop various induction methods of gaze fixation for effective visual field testing. Proposed were four new gaze fixation induction methods (color changing dot; alphanumeric characters; flashing black dot; and bulls eye and cross hair, BECH) by considering visual attention factors such as color, meaning, flashing, and shape and the proposed methods were compared with the existing black dot (BD) method in terms of gaze fixation performance and subjective satisfaction by 32 participants in their 20s to 30s. BECH was found most preferred by increasing gaze fixation performance by 4.8% and subjective satisfaction by 0.4 to 2.0 in a 7-point scale compared to BD. BECH can be applied to tests such as visual field testing and macular pigment optical density testing in which gaze fixation is crucial for accuracy and usability. †