A Comparative Study of Manual and Digital Methods and Stereopsis Assessment in Young Adults

Abstract

Reduced stereopsis or depth perception may be the early indicator of abnormal motor functions in people therefore, the stereopsis test is considered ideal for visual screening. It can accomplish the need for the assessment of stereopsis by using a cost-effective smartphone application. Objective: To compare the stereo acuity values of manual and digital stereopsis tests by using the Random Dot Stereo Acuity test with Lea Symbols (Manual) and the SAT App for Android (Digital). Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was carried out in the Eye department at The University of Lahore Teaching Hospital from February 2023 to May 2023. A total of 62 subjects aged 15-35 years were included in our study, out of which 31 were emmetropes and 31 were ametropes. Screening of subjects was done which included torch light examination and basic refraction. Manually stereopsis was measured using Random Dot stereo acuity test with Lea symbols and digitally it was measured by SAT application. Results:  The mean ± SD stereo acuity value of the manual test (N=62) was 60.5242 ± 36.47607 seconds of arc and the mean stereo acuity value of the digital test (N=62) was 70.0968 ± 28.29569 seconds of arc. P-value was 0.006 which confirmed that our results were statistically significant. Conclusions: Our study highlighted the comparison of digital and manual stereopsis tests. We obtained different stereo acuity values from both tests on the same individuals. Hence, the manual test gave better values of stereopsis than the digital test.