High - Speed Camera Characterisation of Voluntary Eye Blinking Kinematics

Blinking is vital to maintain the integrity of the ocular surface and its characteristics such as blink duration and speed can vary significantly, depending on the health of the eyes. The blink is so rapid that special techniques are required to characterise it. In this study, a highspeed camera was used to record and characterise voluntary blinking. The blinking motion of 25 healthy volunteers was recorded at 600 frames per second. Master curves for palpebral aperture and blinking speed were constructed using palpebral aperture versus time data taken from the high-speed camera recordings which show that one blink can be divided into four phases; closing, closed, early-opening and late-opening. Analysis of data from the highspeed camera images were used to calculate the palpebral aperture, peak blinking speed, average blinking speed and duration for voluntary blinking and compare it with data generated by other methods previously used to evaluate voluntary blinking. The advantages of the high-speed camera method over the others are discussed, thereby supporting the high potential usefulness of the method in clinical research.