Abstract
Purpose: :
To investigate the effect of different presbyopic vision corrections on driving performance in a real world environment at night.
Methods: :
Participants included 11 presbyopes (mean age: 57.3 ± 5.8 years) who had no experience of wearing presbyopic vision corrections, apart from reading spectacles. Four vision corrections were used: single vision distance correction (SV), progressive addition spectacle lenses (PAL), monovision contact lenses (MV) and multifocal contact lenses (MTF CL). Night-time driving performance was assessed on a 4 km closed-road circuit. Measures included low contrast road hazard detection and avoidance, road sign recognition, reading digits on a simulated radio and speedometer (near dashboard targets), recognition of LED orientation in side mirrors, lane keeping, time to complete the course and legibility distance for street signs. Eye movement data (fixation duration and number of fixations when viewing distance traffic-related signs and near dashboard targets) were also recorded using the ASL Mobile Eye (eye tracking system).
Results: :
Street sign legibility distances were significantly shorter when wearing MV and MTF CL than SV and PAL (p<0.001). Wearing SV resulted in significantly more errors when responding to near dashboard targets (p<0.001), while wearing PAL led to less time to complete the driving course than when wearing MTF CL (p=0.048). Eye movement data revealed that fixation duration when viewing distant traffic-related signs was significantly longer with MTF CL than PAL (p=0.031), while SV wear resulted in longer fixation durations (p<0.001) and higher number of fixations (p=0.002) when viewing near dashboard targets.
Conclusions: :
Presbyopic vision corrections affected driving performance at night on a closed-road circuit in a variety of ways. Overall, spectacle corrections (PAL and SV) performed well for driving performance, but SV wear negatively affected viewing of near dashboard targets. MTF CL resulted in the shortest mean legibility distance to street signs and longer fixation times.
Keywords: presbyopia • contact lens • eye movements