New Infant Grating Test

The New Infant Grating Test provides a rapid and effective method for determining visual acuity in infants. The test exploits the preference that infants have for patterned stimuli over blank spaces to determine their range of vision without requiring any communication or response from them.

Features and Benefits of the New Infant Grating Test

• Accurate method for testing visual acuity
• Designed specifically for testing infants
• More effective than letter-based eye tests
• Consists of eight acuity testing cards

About the New Infant Grating Test

The New Infant Grating Test consists of eight cards, each with two circular apertures. On seven of the cards one of the apertures contains a grating of a known frequency, while the other circle remains blank. The eighth card contains no grating in either circle and is labelled blank.

The examiner conducts the test by showing the cards to the infant one by one, observing whether the infant looks at the grating on each card. As babies have a natural tendency to look at patterns rather than blank spaces when presented with the choice, the child is likely to be drawn to the grating on each card. Therefore, when the child no longer shows a preference for the grating, the examiner can determine that the current grating is outside of the child's range of vision.

Accuracy of the New Infant Grating Test

This testing method tends to be more accurate than letter-based visual tests, simply because the subject is not required to identify the target or communicate with the examiner. As the cards are graded, the examiner is able to accurately quantify the infant's range of vision based on the gratings that they could and couldn't see.