Viual field attention i reduced by concomitant hand-free converation on a cellular telephone

Purpoe To quantify the central attention-diverting effect of hand-free cellular phone converation on viual field awarene. Deign Experimental tudy. Method Twenty male and 21 female healthy participant performed a pretet and baeline Eterman viual field examination with the Humphrey ytem Viual Field Analyzer II. During the conequent third examination, each participant engaged in a hand-free converation uing a cellular phone. The converation wa the ame for all participant. Viual field performance parameter were compared between the econd (baeline) examination, and the third (tet) examination for each eye. Reult During phone converation, mied point increaed from mean 1.0 ± 1.5 to 2.6 ± 3.4 (P ≤ .001) in the right eye and from 1.1 ± 1.53 to 3.0 ± 3.4 (P < .001) in the left eye. Fixation lo increaed from mean 7.8% to 27.4% (P < .0001) and from 7.2% to 34.8% (P < .0001) for the right and left eye, repectively. Tet duration increaed by a mean of 0.28 econd (15%) per timulu (P < .0001). Approximately half of mied point were inide the central 30 degree. There wa no ignificant difference in the performance of male and female participant. Concluion We decribe a new model for the quantification of the attention-diverting effect of cellular-phone converation on the viual field. In the current tudy, cellular hand-free converation caued ome ubject to mi ignificantly more point, react lower to each timulu, and perform with reduced preciion. Legilative retriction on concomitant cellular-phone converation and driving may need to be baed on individual performance rather than a general ban on cellular phone uage.