Editorial: Fixation Disparity
"On binocular test methods, binocular vision, its non-pathological anomalies and their optical correction" is the title of a publication in the book "Binocular Correction" published in 1980 by the publisher Willy Schrickel, Düsseldorf. The author of this article was the former lecturer at the HFOF Berlin (now the Berliner Hochschule für Technik (BHT) Hans-Joachim Haase, who gave his name to the "Measurement and Correction Method according to H. J. Haase (MCH)". Research in the field of binocular vision has been increasingly carried out in Berlin since 1937, after the father of German optometry Peter Abel introduced the TIB method (Turville Infinitive Balance Test) developed by the British optometrist A. E. Turville at the then "German School of Optics and Photographic Technology".
Research and training in the field of binocular vision continues to be a domain of the Berlin School to this day. This is also reflected in the early international academic exchange of the Berlin educational institution with various Anglo-Saxon universities. These include H. J. Haase's contacts with Indiana University, School of Optometry and the legendary Professor Henry Hofstetter, who visited the former HFOF Berlin in 1961 and 1975 to discuss scientific and clinical ideas with H. J. Haase - but also the scientific dialog of the later director of the Berlin School Dr. Helmut Goersch, with the internationally well known Professor David Pickwell of the School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of Bradford is part of it.
Despite many scientific and clinical studies that have been carried out in the meantime, there are still some scientific and clinical questions that have not been finally clarified in the context of MCH and the sometimes necessary correction of heterophoria. For some time now, fixation disparity has been the focus of increased research activities. This is due in particular to measurement methods such as eye tracking or the search coil method1,2, which can be used to distinguish between objective and subjective fixation disparity.
In the current OCL, scientists and clinicians are now addressing different issues of fixation disparity. The OCL issue is completed by a case series on the examination of children with "autism spectrum disorders", which makes this OCL particularly interesting for experts in the fields of paediatric optometry and paediatric ophthalmology. Comfortable vision, not just good vision, should be the goal of every visual aid prescription. An up-to-date and profound knowledge for the field of binocular vision is essential for this.
Your Wolfgang Cagnolati
Literature
[1] Houben, M. M. J., Goumans, J., van der Steen, J. (2006). Recording Three- Dimensional Eye Movements: Scleral Search Coils versus Video Oculography. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 47, 179-187.
[2] Schmitt, K. U., Muser, M. H., Lanz, C., Walz, F., Schwarz, U. (2007). Comparing eye movements recorded by search coil and infrared eye tracking. J. Clin. Monit. Comput., 21, 49-53.