A new method of birefringence measurement in highly birefringent fibers influenced by hydrostatic pressure conditions up to 100 MPa is presented. The birefringence measurement method is based on twist-induced effects and has never been applied before in a high-pressure environment. The experiments were conducted using a specially designed pressure facility, which made it possible to simultaneously generate several mechanical perturbations, including twist and hydrostatic stress, and to investigate their effects on mode transmission in optical fibers. The results indicate that in the case of HB single-mode bow-tie fibers, hydrostatic pressure up to 100 MPa increased birefringence with a mean coefficient of (1//spl Delta/B/sub 0/)(/spl Delta//spl beta/)/dp=0.2%/MPa which is in very close agreement with our previous measurement based on Rayleigh scattering. >