The process of lighting and seeing is re-examined from the viewpoint of communication theory. A new measure is developed to be used as a relevant indicator of goodness of seeing in assessing the effect of lighting. This measure is expressed in terms of the number of the distinguishable luminance levels contained between two luminances associated with two parts of interest of a given visual task under a certain adaptation condition. By reference to this number, the way the goodness of seeing varies with the illuminance can be found, and a maximum adaptation luminance profitable for the given task can also be identified.
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References
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Yonemura, G.T. , in Lynes, J. A. (ed.), Light and vision, Developments in Lighting-1 ( Applied Science, London, 1978).
2.
Inohara, M., Yoshimura, Y. & Takeuchi, T., Luminance contrast threshold of human eyes adapted to a luminance differentiated from that of the object's background, Proc. CIE 19th Session, Kyoto (1979).
