Quantitative analysis of the accommodative convergence to accommodation ratio: linear and nonlinear static models

K.N. Ogle et al. (Binocular Vision and Fixation Disparity, p. 9-119, l967; Lea and Febiger; Philadelphia, PA) proposed two measures of oculomotor linkage called the accommodative convergence to accommodation (AC/A) ratio. This ratio provided a clinically useful assessment of the drive of accommodation, or focusing system, on vergence, or binocular fixation system. The phoria method measured the relatively large deviation in eye alignment under the monocular condition, whereas the fixation disparity method measured the relatively small misalignment of the eyes under the binocular condition to obtain the AC/A ratio. Ogle et al. indicated that these two measures should be equal. However, experimental results showed a substantial difference between the AC/A ratios obtained by the two methods. To quantitatively assess the difference between the two methods, a linear static model was first evaluated. This model was based on an earlier successful model of the accommodation and vergence system. The linear-model solution showed that these two methods were equivalent and thus could not account for the differences found. Then, a nonlinear static model, containing the deadspace operators depth of field and Panum's fusional area (PFA), was evaluated. Since two solutions were possible for each deadspace operator, there were four basic solutions. However, there were two binocular-viewing paradigms. This resulted in four prism-viewing and four lens-viewing solutions. Finally, a difference was taken between the prism- and lens-viewing measures, giving a total combination of 16 solutions. Only four of these solutions were equal to that using the phoria method. Some of the other solution lines were widely separated, thus providing a range of possible data values across different solution lines. Calculations showed that the variation in AC/A ratio values for data across difference solution lines was comparable to that found experimentally. Thus, the deadspace operators in the nonlinear model were able to account for the discrepancy between the AC/A ratio determined by the phoria and fixation disparity methods.