AIM (Angular Indication Measurement)- Visual Acuity: An adaptive, self-administered, and generalizable vision assessment method used to measure visual acuity

Abstract

This proof-of-concept study introduces Angular Indication Measurement and applies it to VA (AIM-VA). First, we compared the ability of AIM-VA and ETDRS to detect defocus and astigmatic blur in 22 normally-sighted adults. Spherical and cylindrical lenses (±0.00D, +0.25D, +0.50D, +0.75D, +1.00D, +2.00D and +0.50D, +1.00D, +2.00D each at 0°, 90°, 135°, respectively) in the dominant eye induced blur. Second, we compared repeatability over two tests of AIM-VA and ETDRS. A 2-way-ANOVA showed a main effect for defocus-blur and test with no interaction. A 3-way-ANOVA for the astigmatism experiment revealed main effects for test type, blur, and direction and with no interactions. Planned multiple comparisons showed AIM had greater astigmatic-induced VA loss than ETDRS. Bland-Altman plots showed small bias and no systematic learning effect for either test type and improved repeatability with >2 adaptive steps for AIM-VA. AIM-VA's ability to detect defocus was comparable with that of an ETDRS letter chart and showed greater sensitivity to astigmatic blur, and AIM-VA's repeatability is comparable with ETDRS when using 2 or more adaptive steps. AIM's self-administered orientation judgment approach is generalizable to interrogate other visual functions, e.g., contrast, color, motion, stereo-vision.