A New Gyro-Based Method for Quantifying Eyelid Motion

Abstract

Purpose

We present an innovative method to quantify the eyeblink by using a miniature gyroscopic sensor (gyro), which is applied on the upper eyelid. Electrical Stimulation (ES) of the facial nerve is a promising technology to treat dysfunctional eyelid closure following facial paralysis. We used the new gyro-based method to evaluate the biomechanics of both the spontaneous and the ES-induced eyeblink, and to identify the best ES protocol.

Methods

During blinking, eyelids rotate about the axis passing through the eye canthi, thus we propose to use a gyro for measuring the angular velocity of the upper eyelid (ω_e). The angular displacement of the eyelid (θ_e) was calculated by integrating the ω_e signal. Two indices were derived from θ_e: 1) the eyelid angular displacement during eye closure (C), calculated as the peak value of θ_e; 2) the eyelid closure duration (D), calculated as the time interval between zero signal and the peak value of θ_e. In a healthy volunteer we used this method to quantify both the spontaneous eyeblink and the blinks elicited by different ES patterns.

Results

For the spontaneous eyeblink, indices C = 14.0 ± 1.8° and D = 94.0 ± 10.8 ms were computed. By comparing C and D indices for spontaneous and ES cases, trains of 10 pulses with a frequency ranging from 200 Hz to 400 Hz proved to induce the most effective and natural-like eyeblinks.

Conclusions

The new gyro-based method proved to be a valuable tool to provide dynamic and realtime quantification of eyelid motions. It could be particularly useful for evaluating the effective and natural-like eyeblink restoration provided by ES.