Abstract

Basic researchers have been pursuing genetical and environmental factors that may contribute to sensory deficts for a number of years. Their search has been supported by a steadily accruing body of data which indicates that there are systematic differences in sensory capacities among various subgroups of the population, defined in terms of their race, environmental or occupational history, as well as their nutritional condition, age and medical status. Much of this evidence comes from clinical sources, which indicate the prevalence of various ophthalmological problems which eventually reach a level of severity which requires medical intervention. From the researcher's point of view such data are valuable, however, they are quite limited in that they only consider the more extreme end of the continuum of sensory deficits. When one searches the literature to obtain normative data as to the prevalence of sensory deficits in nonclinical populations, little data are available. There are few large scale surveys of sensory abilities, and even epidemiological studies have little of this data.

© 1986 Optical Society of America