Development of a transformation model to analyze horizontal saccadic velocity using electrooculography: a pilot feasibility study

IntroductionSaccadic eye movements are established biomarkers in neuroscience and clinical neurology, with video-oculography (VOG) serving as the gold standard for measurement. However, the high cost, bulky equipment, and poor portability of VOG systems restrict their clinical utility. Electrooculography (EOG) provides a practical alternative, but quantitative conversion of EOG-derived measurements into VOG-equivalent values remains insufficiently established. This study aimed to develop and validate a mathematically derived transformation model for estimating VOG-equivalent horizontal saccadic velocities from EOG recordings.MethodsFour healthy adults underwent simultaneous EOG and VOG recordings while performing controlled horizontal gaze shifts. Based on a current-source model of the corneal potential, an analytical relationship between EOG voltage velocity and angular eye velocity was derived. Multiple high-pass filter settings were systematically evaluated to identify optimal signal-processing conditions. Transformation equations were derived from the pooled horizontal-saccade dataset and further evaluated using leave-one-subject-out (LOSO) analysis.ResultsThe theoretical model predicted a linear relationship between EOG- and VOG-derived saccadic velocities. Among the tested filter settings, a 0.3 Hz high-pass combined with a 35 Hz low-pass filter yielded the best overall agreement. Under this condition, the final transformation model produced a common slope coefficient of 0.146 °/μV for both movement directions, with an additional direction-specific intercept of −82.37 °/s for rightward saccades. Converted EOG-derived velocities showed no significant differences from measured VOG-derived velocities. LOSO validation demonstrated stable transformation coefficients (mean slope = 0.147 °/μV, mean intercept = −82.47 °/s) and maintained agreement across individuals.ConclusionA biophysically derived and experimentally validated EOG-to-VOG transformation model can provide accurate estimates of horizontal saccadic velocity under appropriate filtering conditions. These findings support the feasibility of quantitative saccadic analysis using EOG, providing a practical alternative to VOG.