A Portable Device for Dynamic Visual Acuity

Abstract

Dynamic visual acuity (DVA) thresholds are among the few visual functions found predictive of automobile accidents. DVA is sensitive to alcohol and aging. In two within-subject, repeated-measures designs, a laser DVA device was compared to the traditional device. Both tasks were administered to two groups: Group I received graded stimuli at 60, 75 & 90 degrees per second (dps); Group II at 60, 90 & 120 dps. Testing involved different target sizes, velocities, type of target, and time course changes within a session. Findings: 1) retest reliabilities of the two DVA devices were comparable and higher with the laser; 2) average correlations between the devices were r = 0.62 (p < .01) and r = 0.65 (p < .01) for Group I and II respectively. In spite of the known differences in implementation, the laser device can be developed to measure the same construct as the more traditional DVA device, and the laser is considerably more flexible.