Eye Monitoring Applications in Medicine

Abstract

Eye trackers have been used for medical image perception in radiology since the 1960s, with pioneering work by Harold Kundel and Dr. Calvin Nodine from the Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Philadelphia [348, 457]. Initial studies involved radiologists viewing 2D X-ray images of the chest or breast on photographic film displayed on large “light boxes”. The aim of these early studies was to evaluate the use of image processing techniques, such as edge enhancement, to improve the visibility of lung tumours and hence reduce the error rates [351]. In order to make their experiments rigorous, Kundel and Nodine developed the technique of synthesising nodules photographically on otherwise normal chest images. The eye monitoring data provided understanding of the visual search process [346] and why errors occurred [349, 457]. These projects are motivated by the aim to provide eye-gaze driven decision support systems [123, 350, 456].