Eye Tracking with Eye Glasses

Abstract: This study is concerned with the negative effects of wearing corrective lenses while using eye trackers, and the correction of those negative effects. The eye tracker technology studied is the video based real-time Pupil Center and Corneal Reflection method. With a user study, the wearing of eyeglasses is shown to cause 20 % greater errors in the accuracy of an eye tracker than when not wearing glasses. The error is shown to depend on where on the eye tracker viewing area the user is looking. A model for ray refraction when wearing glasses was developed. Measurements on distortions on the image of the eye caused by eyeglass lenses were carried out. The distortions were analyzed with eye tracking software to determine their impact on the image-to-world coordinates mapping. A typical dependence of 1 mm relative distance change on cornea to 9 degrees of visual field was found. The developed mathematical/physiological model for eyeglasses focuses on artifacts not possible to accommodate for with existing calibration methods, primarily varying combinations of viewing angles and head rotations. The main unknown in the presented model is the effective strength of the glasses. Automatic identification is discussed. The model presented here is general in nature and needs to be developed further in order to be a part of a specific application.