A new method for quantifying ocular dominance using the balancing technique.

Introduction And Purpose: To develop a chart for the clinical setting that can quantify ocular dominance by using the modified balancing technique, a method based on binocular rivalry.

Methods: In 100 healthy young volunteers, rightward-tilted and leftward-tilted square-wave gratings were presented to the right and left eye, respectively. A newly designed chart employing balancing techniques based on binocular rivalry was used in conjunction with a viewer. Target contrast in the nondominant eyes was fixed at 100%, while in the dominant eyes it was varied from 100% to 10% during ten steps that used a square-wave grating of 2 cycles per degree and which were 4° in size. By varying the contrast of the dominant eye, a "reversal point," which is where the exclusive visibility time or the conscious perception frequency of the nondominant eye exceeds the dominant eye, is revealed. This can be used to assess the magnitude of the ocular dominance.

Results: Ocular dominance magnitude results indicated there was a good correlation between the modified and original balancing techniques. The modified balancing technique also showed high measurement repeatability.

Conclusions: A chart that uses the modified balancing technique for ocular dominance examinations can be used as a simple test to quantify ocular dominance within clinical settings.