Design and realization of a handheld-vibraometer system for non-contact in vivo detection of microvibrations of the human eye to determine the intraocular pressure (IOP)

摘要

To allow measurements of the intraocular pressure (IOP) by glaucoma patients themselves (self-tonometry) a handheld-interferometer system for non-contact in vivo measurements of microvibrations of the human eye was realized. The measurement principle is based on the dependence of the resonance frequencies of the human eye on the IOP. To analyze this, the human eye is stimulated by ultrasonic waves and the induced microvibrations are measured with a vibrometer and processed by a DSP unit. Beside a stabilized diode laser and a low noise photodetector and exact three-dimensional positioning system had to be developed to guarantee reliable measurements. To investigate the corresponding requirements a camera-based system or the detection of human eye movements was developed and test series with several persons were made. Based on these results an adjustment unit was integrated in a miniaturized interferometer system: After a short self-adjusting procedure lateral to the setup by overlaying two targets of a highly sensitive optical system the correct measuring distance between the cornea and the vibrometer parallel to the optical axis is determined automatically by an astigmatic auto-focus system. With this handheld-vibrometer in vivo measurements with several test persons were made with very good results concerning the reliability and handling capability.