Light sources causing annoyance or pain produce discomfort glare. Traditional glare metrics fail for non-uniform luminaires. As an alternative, visual discomfort is determined by a model incorporating the centre–surround receptive field mechanism, the pupillary light reflex and a correction for retinal position. The pupil area, controlled by the pupillary light reflex, regulates the retinal illuminance. A centre–surround receptive field, described by a difference of Gaussians, represents the visual signal. A correction according to the Guth position index accounts for the reduction in brightness perception when a light source is moved away from the line of sight. The model is analysed with a forced choice paired comparison experiment involving 17 non-uniform rear projected stimuli with different spatial frequencies and luminance steps. A coefficient of determination of 0.68 between the subjective assessment and the model is obtained. A paired comparison office luminaire experiment and a magnitude estimation experiment involving diffusor luminaires validate the model resulting in a coefficient of determination of 0.86 and 0.81, respectively. By including the pupillary light reflex, receptive field mechanism and a correction for retinal position, the more physiologically justified model is a promising alternative to current, often empirical, glare metrics, especially for non-uniform luminaires.
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