The influence of lighting of different spectral power distribution on letter contrast sensitivity has been studied. The different spectral power distributions were obtained by filtering or dimming tungsten halogen lamps. Measurements were made on 20 young and healthy individuals (25 eyes) whose monocular contrast sensitivities were measured with a natural pupil. Sixteen combinations of test and surround luminance with high or low correlated colour temperatures were studied in such a way that the influence of test luminance, surround luminance or colour temperature of both visual fields could be independently studied. Both test luminance and surround luminance influenced contrast sensitivity but correlated colour temperature did not.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
National Academy of Science. National Research Council (NAS-NRC). Committee on Vision. Report of Working Group 39. Recommended standard procedures for the clinical measurement and specification of visual acuity. Advances in Ophthalmology1983; 41: 103–148.
2.
International Standards Organisation. Ophthalmic Optics - Visual Acuity Testing - Standard Optotype and Its Presentation. ISO:8596:1996. Madrid: AENOR, 1996.
3.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) (2004). ANSI Z80.21-1992 (R2004)-General Purpose Clinical Visual Acuity Charts. Optical Laboratories Association, ANSI, New York, NY, USA.
4.
BlackwellHR. Contrast threshold of the human eye. Journal of the Optical Society of America1946; 36: 624–643.
5.
de ValoisRLMorganHSnodderlyDM. Psychophysical studies of the monkey vision III. Spatial luminance contrast sensitivity tests of macaque and human observers. Vision Research1974; 14: 75–81.
BanksMSGeislerWSBennettPJ. The physical limits of grating visibility. Vision Research1987; 27: 1915–1924.
8.
SucsFEUvijlsA. Contrast sensitivity in retinitis pigmentosa at different luminance levels. Clinical Vision Sciences1992; 7: 147–151.
9.
PuellMCPalomoCSánchez-RamosCVillenaC. Normal values for photopic and mesopic letter contrast sensitivity. Journal of Refractive Surgery2004; 20: 484–488.
10.
BlommaertFJJTimmersH. Letter recognition at low contrast levels: effects of letter size. Perception1987; 16: 421–432.
11.
CoxMJNormanJHNormanP. The effect of surround luminance on measurements of contrast sensitivity. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics1999; 19: 401–414.
12.
KhananiAMBrownSMXuKT. Normal values for a clinical test of letter-recognition contrast thresholds. Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery2004; 30: 2377–2382.
13.
VizmanosJGde la FuenteIMatesanzBMAparicioJA. Influence of surround illumination on pupil size and contrast sensitivity. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics2004; 24: 464–468.
14.
AparicioJAArranzIMatesanzBMVizmanosJGPadiernaLGonzálezVRMarSMenéndezJAIssolioL. Quantitative and functional influence of surround luminance on the letter contrast sensitivity function. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics2010; 30: 188–199.
15.
RabinJ. Luminance effects on visual acuity and small letter contrast sensitivity. Optometry and Vision Science1994; 71: 685–688.
16.
BoycePRAkashiYHunterCMBulloughJD. The impact of spectral power distribution on the performance of an achromatic visual task. Lighting Research and Technology2003; 35: 141–161.
17.
BermanSMNavvabMMartinMJSheedyJTithofW. A comparison of traditional and high colour temperature lighting on the near acuity of elementary school children. Lighting Research and Technology2006; 38: 41–52.
18.
FotiosSAChealC. Lighting for subsidiary streets: investigation of lamps of different SPD. Part 1 – Visual Performance. Lighting Research and Technology2007; 39: 215–232.
19.
Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage. Light as a True Visual Quantity: Principles of Measurement. CIE, Publication 41, Paris: CIE,1978.
20.
JansoniusNMKooijmanAC. The effect of defocus on edge contrast sensitivity. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics1997; 17: 128–132.
21.
AtchisonDAWoodsRLBradleyA. Predicting the effects of optical defocus on human contrast sensitivity. Journal of the Optical Society of America A-Optics Image Science and Vision1998; 15: 2536–2544.
22.
StrangNCAtchisonDAWoodsRL. Effects of defocus and pupil size on human contrast sensitivity. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics1999; 19: 415–426.
23.
WoodsRLStrangNCAtchisonDA. Measuring contrast sensitivity with inappropriate optical correction. Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics2000; 20: 442–451.
24.
RadhakrishnanHPardhanSCalverRIO’LearyDJ. Effect of positive and negative defocus on contrast sensitivity in myopes and nonmyopes. Vision Research2004; 44: 1869–1878.
25.
PelliDGRobsonJGWilkinsAJ. The design of a new letter chart for measuring contrast sensitivity. Clinical Vision Sciences1988; 2: 187–199.
26.
RabinJ. Optical defocus: differential effects on size and contrast letter recognition thresholds. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science1994; 35: 646–648.
27.
RabinJWicksJ. The small letter contrast test– sensitivity, reliability and application. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science1995; 36: S943–S943.
28.
RabinJWicksJ. Measuring resolution in the contrast domain: The small letter contrast test. Optometry and Vision Science1996; 73: 398–403.
29.
WyszeckyGStilesWS. Color Science, NewYork: Willey, 1982.
30.
RayWAO'DayDM. Statistical analysis of multi-eye data in ophthalmic research. Investigative Ophthalmology and Vision Science1985; 26: 1186–1188.
31.
MurdochIEMorrisSSCousensSN. People and eyes: statistical approaches in ophthalmology. British Journal of Ophthalmology1998; 82: 971–973.
32.
von KriesJInfluence of adaptation on the effects produced by luminous stimuli. In: MacAdamDL (ed.) Sources of Color Science, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press, 1970; 109–119.
33.
Ramamurthy V, Naredran N, Freyssinier JP, Raghavan R, Boyce P. Determining contrast sensitivity functions for monochromatic light emitted by high-brightness LEDs. Third International Conference on Solid State Lighting. Proceedings of the SPIE 5187, San Diego, CA, USA, Aug (2003) 05–07: 2004: 294–300.
34.
CapillaPFelipeAPonsAMArtigasJM. Effect of color on contrast sensitivity with two different accommodative stimuli. Optometry and Vision Sciences1993; 70: 24–29.
