Monokulær

Monokulär is a term used in Swedish and other languages to describe something related to or involving a single eye or a single optical channel. In English, monocular refers to vision or equipment that relies on one eye or one lens. The term is commonly used in medicine, ophthalmology, and optics to distinguish single-eye phenomena from binocular ones.

In human vision, monocular vision can describe either normal use of one eye or reduced or absent vision in one eye, while the other provides sight. When only one eye contributes to vision, depth perception is diminished because stereoscopic depth cues are unavailable. Causes include congenital absence of an eye, severe injury, diseases such as optic neuropathies, or amblyopia. People with monocular vision may compensate by emphasizing monocular cues such as perspective, shading, motion parallax, and texture gradient.

In optics, a monocular or monokulär device is a portable instrument with a single eyepiece, such as a monocular telescope, spotting scope, or a handheld magnifier. Monoculars are lightweight and compact relative to binoculars and are often used for travel, birdwatching, surveillance, or outdoor activities. They offer immediacy and a wide field of view but lack true depth perception and often have fixed magnification and a limited close-range utility.

Etymology: from Latin mono- 'one' and oculus 'eye'. In Swedish, monokulär may also appear in compound terms like monokulär syn, used to denote single-eye vision. See also monocular cues, monocular device.