Catalogue Number: 3347 LogMAR Word Reading Chart Category: Equipment Sub-Category: Reading card, tests of near vision Designer/inventor: BAILEY Ian L, LOVIE Jan E Year Of Publication/Manufacture: 1979 Time Period: 1940 to 1999 Place Of Publication/Manufacture: Melbourne Publisher/Manufacturer: National Vision Research Institute of Australia Description Of Item: Set of 19 word reading cards each with different word sets with the first word beginning with the letters a through to t (except b) ' h is duplicated. The cards are printed on stiff white card 260 x 206 mm, designed on the logMAR principle with an N scale and a logMAR scale (for 25 cm) on the left hand side.These are the original charts produced in the NVRI by Bailey and Lovie in 1979. Card beginning 'impress' is in the Aitken Gallery. Historical Significance: Ian Bailey and Jan Lovie devised the LogMAR visual acuity chart, which has become the standard visual acuity chart throughout the world. They then addressed the issue of a standardised reading vision chart using the same principles of logarithmic progression of size, proportional spacing between lines and letters. The design was published in 1980 Bailey IL, Lovie JE. The design and use of a new near-vision chart. m J Optom Physiol Opt. 1980 Jun;57(6):378-87. Ian Bailey was the first full-time researcher in the National Vision Research Institute having previously been Clinic Administrator and lecturer in the Australian College of Optometry. He was a graduate of the College in 1961. Jan Lovie was his graduate student in the NVRI. For more information on Ian Bailey and his colourful career see his profile in Clin Exp Optom: Adams AJ, Lovie-Kitchin J. Ian L Bailey Clin Exp Optom 2004; 87: 37-41 also on this web site under the tab people who made history. Jan Lovie became Jan Lovie-Kitchin and was a senior academic at the Queensland University of Technology and a leader in low vision care. See her profile: Cole BL. Jan Lovie-Kitchin. Clin Exp Optom 2007: 90: 214-216. For information about the LogMAR chart see: Bailey IL, Lovie JE. New design principles for visual acuity letter charts. Am J Optom Physiol Opt. 1976 Nov;53(11):740-5. See Cat no. 3268 for a collection of papers and artefacts relating to the development of these charts How Acquired: Donated by Ian Bailey, honorary life member of the College Date Acquired: Oct 2016 Condition: Good, some yellowing of the card Location: Archive office. Pamphlet and ephemera filing cabinet. Drawer 7 |