tonometer
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun An instrument for determining the degree of intravascular blood-pressure.
- noun An instrument for measuring strains within a liquid. A thermometer with very thin elliptical bulb may be used, as the pulling forces distend the bulb, causing the mercurial column to descend.
- noun In music, an instrument for measuring the pitch of tones; especially, a tuning-fork, or a graduated set of tuning-forks, whose pitch has been exactly determined.
- noun In medicine, an instrument for measuring the degree of tension in the eyeball in cases of glaucoma.
Examples
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Tests done with a tonometer are quick and painless though some people find them uncomfortable.
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The majority of these involved the use of the lungs as a tonometer, equilibrating the oxygen or the CO2 of the lungs with that of the incoming pulmonary arterial blood.
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The KAT uses the 'Goldmann method' of measuring intraocular pressure of the eye, calculating the force required to flatten a constant area of the cornea using a special prism mounted on the tonometer head and placed against the cornea.
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Then they use a device called a Goldmann tonometer to measure the pressure of the eye by pressing gently against it.
Note
The word 'tonometer' comes from Greek roots meaning 'stretching' and 'measure'.
