December 2022
Volume 22, Issue 14
Open Access
Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting Abstract  |   December 2022
A New Method for Measuring Visual Snow Symptoms
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Samantha Montoya
    University of Minnesota, Graduate Program in Neuroscience
  • Michael Lee
    University of Minnesota, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Neurosciences
  • Stephen Engel
    University of Minnesota, Department of Psychology
  • Michael-Paul Schallmo
    University of Minnesota, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
  • Footnotes
    Acknowledgements  This work was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation (T32 EY025187, DGE- 1734815)
Journal of Vision December 2022, Vol.22, 3352. doi:https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.22.14.3352
  • Views
  • Share
  • Tools
    • Alerts
      ×
      This feature is available to authenticated users only.
      Sign In or Create an Account ×
    • Get Citation

      Samantha Montoya, Michael Lee, Stephen Engel, Michael-Paul Schallmo; A New Method for Measuring Visual Snow Symptoms. Journal of Vision 2022;22(14):3352. https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.22.14.3352.

      Download citation file:


      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

      ×
  • Supplements
Abstract

Visual Snow Syndrome (VSS) is a serious but poorly understood disorder whose defining symptom is a veil of flickering dots covering the entire visual field. VSS is estimated to affect 1.4-3.3% of the population, and is also associated with strong afterimages, trails behind moving objects, poor night vision, and light sensitivity. These symptoms can interfere with daily tasks such as driving and reading. Despite its prevalence and impact, relatively few studies have examined VSS, and quantitative measurements of symptoms are lacking. To address this gap in knowledge, we developed a matching task in which participants with VSS adjusted parameters of simulated visual snow on a computer screen to match their visual snow percept. Participants could control the contrast, density, temporal frequency, and size of flickering dots. The simulated snow was randomly generated by independent draws from a distribution controlled by the contrast parameter. The density of the snow was adjusted by setting a certain number of randomly selected draws to background luminance. The temporal frequency parameter determined how often the display was updated with a new draw of dots. Dot size was adjusted simply by moving closer or further from the display, as snow percepts were generally as small or smaller than pixels viewed from 0.5 m. The dots were presented on one side of the display, with a background luminance field on the other. Participants freely viewed the stimuli while adjusting the parameters with button presses until the simulated snow resembled the snow they experience. In initial testing, individuals with VSS reported that simulated snow closely resembled their spontaneous snow percept, and parameter settings were consistent across trials. This task should provide a quantitative assessment of visual snow percepts, enabling testing of hypotheses about underlying mechanisms, and may facilitate assessment of treatments/therapies.

×
×

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

Sign in or purchase a subscription to access this content. ×

You must be signed into an individual account to use this feature.

×