Near LogMAR Tests

The advantages of the LogMAR chart for measuring distance visual acuity are now well established.

The Near LogMAR chart is an adaptation of the distance LogMAR chart, for near vision assessment. The chart consists of a passage of text with each line decreasing in size according to a logMAR progression. The gaps between the rows is approximately equal to the height of the letters on the row below. The text contains both upper and lower case letters so it is not possible to control the spacing of characters to the degree that is achieved for a distance logMAR. Nonetheless, this chart design has a number of advantages over the conventional reading chart.

The LogMAR test test is selected by clicking on the Chart icon in the Secondary Toolbar or by pressing 1 on the keyboard or remote. Alternatively, pressing the Horizontal Control keys on the keyboard or remote rotates around the three test options.

The text displayed is read from text files contained in the Near Chart/LogMAR subdirectory of the program directory. A variety of text files are included with Test Chart 2016 and others may be added by the user.

To edit an existing text file, use Windows Notepad to open the corresponding file in this directory, make the required changes to the text and then save the amended file.  New files can be added in the same way.  NOTE: The text files must not contain any line breaks or commas.

The different text files may be selected using the pull down list in the secondary toolbar or by pressing PgUp or PgDn on the keyboard or remote control.

The text is automatically scaled to the correct size taking account of the viewing distance and the screen calibration data.

Customising the test

The format of the Near LogMAR chart can be changed by selecting the Opts button in the Secondary toolbar. When this button is pressed, two extra options frames appear in the Secondary toolbar as shown below.

The colour options allow the colour of the chart background and foreground (text) to be changed to any colour supported by the computer. To change either colour, select the corresponding down arrow to display the colour picker: Use the mouse to select the hue, saturation and brightness required. Click on the tick to keep the current colour setting.

The chart colour can be reset to black on white by clicking on the Reset button.

The font style can be changed by selecting an alternative font from the pull down list.

NOTE: The size of the letters displayed may change if the font style is changed. The size of the letters is only guaranteed to be correct for the Arial font.