Lighting is an important component of indoor environmental quality that can affect occupant satisfaction, well-being and productivity. Lighting quality is a broad abstract concept and this has implications for its assessment. Subjective evaluations of lighting are an important complement to objective photometric information; however, there is limited existing guidance for the selection of such measures. We review and highlight the advantages and limitations associated with measures of general lighting quality and discomfort glare. Existing measures of lighting quality have broad coverage of individual lighting features but do not always clearly form cohesive scales measuring an underlying construct. Questions used in experimental glare research focus narrowly on glare severity, with ambiguous response rating scales. There is a need for the development of reliable and valid tools to assess lighting quality and its components, with clearly defined definitions and constructs, and explicit reporting of psychometric scale properties. The development of rigorous self-report tools will improve the understanding and design of quality lighting environments.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Objective measures of visual discomfort have the potential to quantify the individual's sensations under discomfort glare conditions although such measures have yet to be circumscribed. The present study aimed to examine the extent to which visual discomfort sensation can be both operationalised and measured, utilising many light-induced physiological measures. These measurements were coupled with visual performance evaluations, in combination with conventional measures of photometric measurements and subjective evaluations. The variables measured were mean Pupil Diameter, Pupillary Unrest Index, Blink Rate, Blink Amplitude, number of fixational eye movements during reading (Fixation Rate), and average Fixation Duration, as well as Combined Visual Performance.The results of this study indicate that most of these parameters show significant differences between high and low lighting conditions. In particular, participants in high discomfort conditions exhibited a higher Fixation Rate, lower Blink Rate, higher Blink Amplitude and a smaller Pupil Diameter than those in both low and medium discomfort conditions. In other words, the studied physiological measures can be used as an index of high levels of glare or visual discomfort. In addition, regarding subjective evaluations, the results of correlation analysis suggest that visual comfort level ratings may provide a more reliable indicator of visual discomfort sensation.
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