The Democritus Digital Visual Acuity Test (DDiVAT) is a novel method for the evaluation of the visual acuity using a smart-TV and a smartphone. It is known that visual acuity is the most reliable clinical index of visual capacity that directly reflects the ability of the patient to adapt to the environment and address his/her personal, social and working mandates. In the traditional clinical settings, visual acuity is estimated by the number of letters or numbers or symbols that are identified by the patient from of a predefined distance. The actual size of the symbols is gradually reduced until the patient cannot identify anymore the displayed object. Certain ocular and systemic diseases interfere with visual acuity, reducing the ability of the patient to identify the objects. Further to refractive errors like the myopia, the hyperopia and the astigmatism, the most common diseases are the cataract, the diabetic retinopathy, the age-related macular degeneration and the hypertensive retinopathy. DDiVAT allows the accurate assessment of visual acuity in home settings offering two operating modes: a) the operated-assisted mode and, b) the self-examination mode. Both operating modes of DDiVAT provide comparable reliability in the estimation of visual acuity. DDiVAT’s applications are numerous since it promotes the concept of self-examination and patient engagement. However, it is primarily effective in screening initiatives, and disease management programs of chronic diseases that affect visual acuity like the diabetes mellitus retinopathy and the age-related macular degeneration. DDiVAT is a research project of the 82293 Medical Retina Research Program of the Democritus University of Thrace. DDiVAT’s development is funded by the research grant 4889/3-2-2021 from Bayer Hellas, while its conduct is regulated by the Scientific Committee of the University Hospital of Alexandroupolis, and the Bioethics Board of the Democritus University of Thrace, in Greece.
DDiVAT Mobile App
