An automatic static perimeter, design and pilot study.

An instrument for automatic static perimetry at 14 points across a meridian was constructed and used in a pilot study. The machine was controlled by a computer and the subjects responded to the light stimuli by pressing one of two push-buttons. Most people investigated readily understood the rules at testing. "Blunders" made by the subject were, however, so common, that allowance had to be made in the test programme for a number of mistakes. The test stimuli should be exposed in random order. When the zone of uncertain seeing is wide - this occurs especially in untrained subjects - a simple test logic gives a fairly large variation. An improvement in reproducibility is then obtained by applying a more complicated logic, though at the cost of an increased duration of the test session.