Computational Methods for Continuous Eye-Tracking Perimetry Based on Spatio-Temporal Integration and a Deep Recurrent Neural Network

Alessandro Grillini*, Alex Hernández-García, Remco J Renken, Giorgia Demaria, Frans W Cornelissen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
111 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The measurement of retinal sensitivity at different visual field locations-perimetry-is a fundamental procedure in ophthalmology. The most common technique for this scope, the Standard Automated Perimetry, suffers from several issues that make it less suitable to test specific clinical populations: it can be tedious, it requires motor manual feedback, and requires from the patient high levels of compliance. Previous studies attempted to create user-friendlier alternatives to Standard Automated Perimetry by employing eye movements reaction times as a substitute for manual responses while keeping the fixed-grid stimuli presentation typical of Standard Automated Perimetry. This approach, however, does not take advantage of the high spatial and temporal resolution enabled by the use of eye-tracking. In this study, we introduce a novel eye-tracking method to perform high-resolution perimetry. This method is based on the continuous gaze-tracking of a stimulus moving along a pseudo-random walk interleaved with saccadic jumps. We then propose two computational methods to obtain visual field maps from the continuous gaze-tracking data: the first is based on the spatio-temporal integration of ocular positional deviations using the threshold free cluster enhancement (TFCE) algorithm; the second is based on using simulated visual field defects to train a deep recurrent neural network (RNN). These two methods have complementary qualities: the TFCE is neurophysiologically plausible and its output significantly correlates with Standard Automated Perimetry performed with the Humphrey Field Analyzer, while the RNN accuracy significantly outperformed the TFCE in reconstructing the simulated scotomas but did not translate as well to the clinical data from glaucoma patients. While both of these methods require further optimization, they show the potential for a more patient-friendly alternative to Standard Automated Perimetry.

Original languageEnglish
Article number650540
Number of pages16
JournalFrontiers in Neuroscience
Volume15
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29-Apr-2021

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Computational Methods for Continuous Eye-Tracking Perimetry Based on Spatio-Temporal Integration and a Deep Recurrent Neural Network'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this