Criteria for recommending lighting levels

Abstract

The effect of lighting on behaviour ranges from allowing simple detection of objects to creating moods and impressions. Lighting standards and recommendations for general applications should be based on the visibility (seeing) requirements where differences between individuals are minimal. Furthermore, lighting criteria or standards must evaluate the seeing process under stimulus conditions approximating those encountered in the real space. It is recommended that conspicuity, defined as: 'how well the detail stands out from the background', or ease of seeing be the metric for visibility. Subjective visual response criteria cannot be universally applied where significant differences in interpretations and evaluations between individuals and/or groups of individuals occur. Instead they should be treated as design options to be applied when they are important aspects of the intended function of the space. In discussing the above issues, the paper identifies the major categories of variables included in the perception of the visual environment and organises them logically with respect to their relationship in developing lighting criteria and standards. This analysis includes a breakdown of the visual processes into sensory and perceptual components. Key words: Conspicuity; contrast; illumination; lighting; lighting levels; suprathreshold visibility; vision.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ross, D.K. , Task lighting—yet another view, Light. Des. and Appl. , 8, 37-43 (1978).

Yonemura, G.T. , Rinalducci, E.J. , Tibbott, R.L. and Fogelgren , L.A. , Equal apparent conspicuity contours with five-bar grating stimuli, NBSIR 79-1925 (1980).

Roethlisberger, F.J. and Dickson, W.J. , Management and the worker ( Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1939).

Parsons, H.M. , What happened at Hawthorne?, Science, 922-932 (1974).

Smith, S.W. and Rea, M.S. , Proofreading under different levels of illumination, J. Ill. Engng. Soc. (USA), 8, 47-52 (1978).

Lofberg, H.A. , Lofstedt, B. , Nilsson, I. and Wyon, D.P. , Combined temperature and lighting effects on the performance of repetitive tasks with differing visual content, CIE Proc. 18th Session, London, 1975, CIE Publication No. 36 (1976).

Shigehisa, T. and Gunn, W.J. , Annoyance response to recorded aircraft noise. I. Effect of intensity of illumination, J. Auditory Res., 18, 175-183 (1978).

Fanger, P.O. , Breum, N.O. and Jerking, N.O. , Can colour and noise influence man's thermal comfort?, Ergonomics, 20, 11-18 (1977).

Jay, P.A. , Lighting and the search for meaning, in Developments in Lighting-1, J. A. Lynes (Ed.), (Applied Science Publishers Ltd., 77-111, London 1978).

10.

Bartley, S.H. , Principles of perception, p. 450 (Harper and Brothers, New York, 1958).

11.

Leibowitz, H. , Mitchell, E. and Angrist, N. , Exposure duration in the perception of shape , Science, 120, 400 (1954).

12.

Lam, W.M.C. , Perception and lighting as formgivers for architecture ( McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York 1977 ).

13.

Boyce, P.R. , Under the influence of lighting, in Developments in Lighting-1, J. A. Lynes (Ed.), (Applied Science Publishers Ltd., 47-76, London. 1978).

14.

Flynn, J.E. , Hendrick, C. , Spencer, T. , and Martyniuk, O. , A guide to methodology procedures for measuring subjective impressions in lighting, J. Ill. Eng. Soc. (USA), 8, 95-110. (1979).

15.

Fox, W.R. , Visual discrimination as a function of stimulus size, shape and edge-gradient , in Wulfeck. J. W. and Taylor, J. H. (Eds.), Form Discrimination as Related to Military Problems, Publications 561, 168-175 (National Academy of Science —National Research Council, 1957).

16.

Brainard, R.W. and Caum, K.B. , Evaluation of an Image Quality Enhancement Technique, AMRL-TR-65-143, NTIS No. AD624470 (Sept. 1965).

17.

Graham, C. H. (Ed.), Vision and Visual Perception (John Wiley and Sons, New York , 1965).

18.

Stevens, S. S. (Ed.), Handbook of Experimental Psychology (John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1951).

19.

Overington, I. , Vision and Acquisition ( Pentech Press, London, 1976).

20.

Steinhardt, J. , Intensity discrimination in the human eye I. The relation of ΔI/I to intensity, J. Gen. Physiol. , 20, 185-209 (1936).

21.

Blackwell, H.R. , Contrast threshold of the human eye, J. Opt. Soc. Amer., 36, 624-643 (1946).

22.

Shlaer, S. , The relation between visual acuity and illumination, J. Gen. Physiol., 21, 165-188 (1937).

23.

Tinker, M.A. , Trends in illumination standards, III. Eng., 43, 866-881 (871), (1948).

24.

Gibson, K.S. and Tyndall, E.P.T. , Visibility of radiant energy, Scientific Papers of the USA Bureau of Standards, No. 475 ( 1923).

25.

Yonemura, G.T. and Kohayakawa, Y. , A new look at the research basis for lighting level recommendations, NBS Building Science Series 82 (1976).

26.

Yonemura, G.T. , Benson, W.M. and Tibbott, R.L. , Levels of illumination and legibility, NBSIR 77-1306 (1977).

27.

Poppel, E. and Harvey, L.O., Jr. , Differential threshold and subjective brightness in the periphery, Psychol. Forsch., 36, 145-161 (1973).

28.

Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE), Comite D'Etudes sur la Lumière et la Vision rapporteur , LeGrande, Y. , Proceedings of the 12th session, Stockholm , 1 (1951).

29.

Wilcox, W.W. , The basis of the dependence of visual acuity on illumination, Proc. Nat. Acad. of Sciences, 18, 47-56 (1932).

30.

De Palma, J.J. and Lowry, E.M. , Sine wave response of visual system II. Sine-wave and square-wave contrast sensitivity, J. Opt. Soc. Amer., 52, 328-335 (1962).

31.

Fry, G.A. , The optical performance of the human eye. In Progress in Optics , E. Wolf (Ed.), (American Elsevier Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 51-131, 1970).

32.

Stevens, W.R. and Foxell, C.A.P. , Visual acuity, Lt. & Ltg., 48, 419-424 (1955).

33.

Stone, P.T. , Clarke, A.M. and Slater, A.I. , The effect of task contrast on visual performance and visual fatigue at a constant illuminance, Light Res. and Tech., 12, 144-159 (1980).

34.

Khek, J. and Krivohlavy, J. , Variation of incidence of error with visual task difficulty, Lt & Ltg, 59, 143-145 (May 1966).

35.

Bryngdahl, O. , Characteristics of the visual system: visual response to photopic spatial sine waves, J. Opt. Soc. Amer. , 56, 811-821 (1966).

36.

Kulikowski, J.J. , Effective contrast constancy and linearity of contrast sensation, Vision Res., 16, 1419-1431 (1976).

37.

Watanabe, A. , Mori, T. , Nagata, S. and Hiwatashi, K. , Spatial sine-wave responses of the human visual system, Vision Res., 8, 1245-1263 (1968).

38.

Georgeson, M.A. and Sullivan, G.D. , Contrast constancy: deblurring in human vision by spatial frequency channels, J. Physiol., 252, 627-656 (1975).