A new Arabic distance visual acuity chart.

BACKGROUND

A new Arabic visual acuity chart has been designed using the various recommendations made by vision scientists for achieving a standardized acuity chart. Our goal was to design a standardized Arabic distance visual acuity chart.

METHOD

The chart is based on the design principle devised by Bailey and Lovie. Twelve Arabic letters of nearly equal legibility values, which could be constructed on a 5 by 5 Snellen framework, were used. The LogMAR method of scaling visual acuity was used, hence the size of letters in the rows progresses in a uniform step of 0.1 logarithm unit.

RESULT

The size of letters in the chart ranged from 58.2 to 4.6 mm, corresponding to visual acuity of 4/40 to 4/3 (6/60 to 6/4) (20/200 to 20/15). The chart is designed for use at 4 m; acuity values for a 6-m testing distance are, however, provided on the chart.

CONCLUSION

The chart will be useful for examining Arabic speaking patients.