A Snellen chart is an eye chart that can be used to measure visual acuity. Snellen charts are named after the Dutch ophthalmologist Herman Snellen who developed the chart in 1862 as a measurement tool for the acuity formula developed by his professor Franciscus Cornelius Donders. Many ophthalmologists and vision scientists now use an improved chart known as the LogMAR chart.
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Snellen chart in the context of Near visual acuity
Near visual acuity or near vision is a measure of how clearly a person can see nearby small objects or letters. Visual acuity in general usually refers clarity of distance vision, and is measured using eye charts like Snellen chart, LogMAR chart etc. Near vision is usually measured and recorded using a printed hand-held card containing different sized paragraphs, words, letters or symbols. Jaeger chart, N notation reading chart and Snellen's near vision test are the commonly used charts for measuring and recording near visual acuity. Near vision testing is usually done after correcting visual acuity at a distance.
Eye conditions like presbyopia, accommodative insufficiency, cycloplegia etc. can affect the near visual acuity. According to the World Health Organization, the near visual acuity less than N6 or M0.8 at 40 cm is classified as near visual impairment.
Snellen chart in the context of Far point
In visual perception, the far point is the farthest point at which an object can be placed (along the optical axis of the eye) for its image to be focused on the retina within the eye's accommodation. It is sometimes described as the farthest point from the eye at which images are clear. The other limit of eye's accommodation is the near point.
For an unaccommodated emmetropic eye, the far point is at infinity, but for the sake of practicality, infinity is considered to be 6 m (20 ft) because the accommodation change from 6 m to infinity is negligible. See visual acuity or Snellen chart for details about 6/6 (m) or 20/20 (ft) vision.
Snellen chart in the context of LogMAR chart
A logMAR chart is a chart consisting of rows of letters that is used by ophthalmologists, orthoptists, optometrists, and vision scientists to estimate visual acuity. The name of the chart is an abbreviation for "logarithm of the Minimum Angle of Resolution". The chart was developed at the National Vision Research Institute of Australia in 1976, and is designed to enable a more accurate estimate of acuity than do other charts (e.g., the Snellen chart). For this reason, the LogMAR chart is recommended, particularly in a research setting.
When using a LogMAR chart, visual acuity is scored with reference to the logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution, as the chart's name suggests. An observer who can resolve details as small as 1 minute of visual angle scores LogMAR 0, since the base-10 logarithm of 1 is 0; an observer who can resolve details as small as 2 minutes of visual angle (i.e., reduced acuity) scores LogMAR 0.3, since the base-10 logarithm of 2 is near-approximately 0.3; and so on.