Affiliations: Unit of Optometry, Department of Clinical
Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden | Division of Ophthalmology and Vision, Department of
Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, St. Erik Eye Hospital, Stockholm,
Sweden
Note: [] Corresponding author: Susanne Glimne, Unit of Optometry,
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Box 8056, 104 20
Stockholm, Sweden. Tel.: +46 8 672~238 19; Fax: +46 8~672 3846; E-mail: susanne.glimne@ki.se
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Glare is a very common source of image degradation when
performing computer work. Since reading is a task that is very sensitive to
image degradation induced disability glare affects reading performance. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of different glare conditions on eye movements
when reading on a computer screen. Glare conditions have an impact on reading.
This observation is based on the results from a study where we investigated how
reading eye movements were affected by glare. PARTICIPANTS: Sixteen subjects with normal vision participated in this study. METHOD: In a balanced repeated-measurement study, all subjects performed equal near-vision
reading tasks. In addition to the condition of no glare three controlled
conditions of glare were used: direct light, indirect light, and desk luminary.
The subjects read three texts under each condition: First a short standardized
text (IReST), secondly a longer newspaper text, and finally an additional IReST
text. The texts were read on a Tobii T120 eye tracker. RESULTS: The results show that glare does have a negative effect on reading performance. The
more adverse the lighting condition was, the slower the reading speed became.
The decrease was primarily a result of increased fixation durations. Both glare
conditions of direct and indirect glare increased the fixation durations
significantly (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study shows that even moderate glare conditions can have an impact on reading.
The results show that it is important to follow recommendations of lighting design in computer work
environment in order to avoid disability glare.
