Clinical Assessment of Stereoacuity and 3-D Stereoscopic Entertainment

Abstract

Background/Aims: The perception of compelling depth is often reported in individuals where no clinically measurable stereoacuity is apparent. We aim to investigate the potential cause of this finding by varying the amount of stereopsis available to the subject, and assessing their perception of depth viewing 3-D video clips and a Nintendo 3DS. Methods: Monocular blur was used to vary interocular VA difference, consequently creating 4 levels of measurable binocular deficit from normal stereoacuity to suppression. Stereoacuity was assessed at each level using the TNO, Preschool Randot®, Frisby, the FD2, and Distance Randot®. Subjects also completed an object depth identification task using the Nintendo 3DS, a static 3DTV stereoacuity test, and a 3-D perception rating task of 6 video clips. Results: As intraocular VA differences increased, stereoacuity of the 57 subjects (aged 16–62 years) decreased (eg, 110”, 280”, 340”, and suppression). The ability to correctly identify depth on the Nintendo 3DS remained at 100% until suppression of one eye occurred. The perception of a compelling 3-D effect when viewing the video clips was rated high until suppression of one eye occurred, where the 3-D effect was still reported as fairly evident. Conclusion: If an individual has any level of measurable stereoacuity, the perception of 3-D when viewing stereoscopic entertainment is present. The presence of motion in stereoscopic video appears to provide cues to depth, where static cues are not sufficient. This suggests there is a need for a dynamic test of stereoacuity to be developed, to allow fully informed patient management decisions to be made.

A Systematic Comparison of Static and Dynamic Cues for Depth Perception

“…Q ualitative work has demonstrated that many participants who are diagnosed as stereoblind when assessed using standard clinical tests report an enhanced perception of depth when viewing dynamic stereoscopic stimuli such as threedimensional (3D) films. [1][2][3] Although this demonstrates some residual ability to use information from the binocular comparison of retinal images, there are several differences between the characteristics of the stimuli involved. Several stereotests are commercially available for use in the clinic; however, they contain many artefacts preventing accurate threshold measurement of even static stereoacuity.…”

Stereopsis: are we assessing it in enough depth?

“…Given the significant differences in presentation method and content, variability between clinical measures and 3‐D entertainment media is expected; however, the magnitude of that variation is surprising. To explore this discrepancy, we performed a series of tests to attempt to quantify this effect, which showed that in the presence of any measureable stereoacuity, subjects reported the impression of convincing depth when viewing the 3‐D videos . In a subgroup of seven non‐binocular subjects, no subject provided a clinically measurable level of disparity; however, responses to 3‐D entertainment media tasks ranged from nil to ‘appears very 3‐D’, and the depth order of five objects within a number of set scenes were correctly identified up to 55 per cent of the time (chance of getting it correct was > 20 per cent).…”

3D- vs. 4K-Display System - Influence of "State-of-the-art"-Display Technique On Surgical Performance (IDOSP-Study) in minimal invasive surgery: protocol for a randomized cross-over trial

“…One challenge is the reduction from real life three-dimensional (3D) stereoscopic vision to virtual two-dimensional (2D) sight. 3D-vision is very important to perform any kind of manual tasks 5 . Therefore optimizing the visualization of the operative field is required especially in MIS.…”

“…As a disadvantage of the technique the surgeon must wear glasses and the equipment is expensive. Furthermore a relevant percentage of the population has deficits in binocular and stereoscopic vision, which could induce dizziness and nausea when using passive polarizing 3Dvideo technique 5 . This could deteriorate surgical performance at the end.…”