Office Task Lighting: A user study of six task lights by five workers with low vision

Abstract

This paper makes a subjective assessment of six task lights in an office environment. Five people with low vision used each task light for a week in their workplace and completed a questionnaire. The main findings suggest tha people prefer a light source that does not get hot and on a flexible mount that produces an even area of illuminance. If the source is too close to the task then unevenness and heat are likely to be a problem. People appear willing to pay up to three times as much for a fluorescent task light on a 92 cms long jointed mount with an adjustable head as for a hot tungsten or tungsten halogen bulb in a small shade on a short (40 to 60 cms) inflexible mount.