This article describes the development of a device to investigate the non-visual responses to light: The Light-Dosimeter (lido). Its multidisciplinary team followed a user-centred approach throughout the project, that is, their design decisions focused on researchers’ and participants’ needs. Together with custom-made mountings and the software Lido Studio, the lidos provide researchers with a holistic solution to record participants’ light exposure in the near-corneal plane in laboratory settings and under real-world conditions. Validation measurements with commercial equipment were deemed satisfying, as was the combining with data from other devices. The handling of the lidos and mountings and the use of the software Lido Studio during the trial period by various researchers and participants were successful. Despite some limitations, the lidos can help advance research on the non-visual responses to light over the coming years.

Research on the non-visual responses to light under real-world conditions has been hindered by the lack of suitable measuring devices. Here, we present a novel, portable and miniaturised light-dosimeter attached to a spectacle frame, taking measurements in the near-corneal plane. The recorded data is processed with the help of the custom-made software package Lido Studio. In addition to commonly used metrics such as illuminance and correlated colour temperature (CCT), it also provides metrics standardised in CIE S 026:2018. Data can be analysed directly in Lido Studio or exported as a PDF report or a comma-separated values (CSV) file for further in-depth time-series analyses. The Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) optics laboratory (Bern-Wabern, Switzerland) assessed the light-dosimeter’s spectral and geometric properties. Subsequentially, the team at the Centre for Chronobiology (Basel, Switzerland) confirmed that measurements performed with a light-dosimeter were comparable to those from a commercial spectroradiometer.

Executive summary The two metrics traditionally used to quantify the colour properties of light sources are the correlated colour temperature and the CIE General Colour Rendering Index. With the arrival of LEDs as a major light source questions began to be asked about the merits of both of these metrics. The question asked about correlated colour temperature was how far should the chromaticity of a light source be allowed to depart from the Planckian locus before the light emitted could no longer be said to be white? A tolerance to such a departure ( Duv) already existed but now gathered much more attention. The questions asked about the CIE General Colour Rendering Index were more searching. The limitations of the CIE General Colour Rendering Index were explored and, as a result, several alternative approaches to quantifying the colour rendition properties of light sources were proposed. The most comprehensive approach was produced by the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, first in its Technical Memorandum IES TM-30-15 and more recently in its revision, Technical Memorandum ANSI/IES TM-30-18, which has been accepted as an American Standard. Both these documents describe a system that contains two high-level summary metrics: One for the average fidelity, i.e. how accurately a test light source renders 99 colour samples relative to how they are rendered under a reference illuminant, and the other for the average colourfulness, i.e. the overall increase or decrease in colourfulness of the same colour samples under the same test light source compared to the same reference illuminant. Associated with these overall average metrics are a number of more detailed metrics and graphical presentations. These aim to quantify and illustrate the variations in fidelity and the direction and magnitude of the shifts in chroma and hue around the hue circle. Compared to the CIE General Colour Rendering Index or the CIE Fidelity Index, a metric published by the CIE in 2017, ANSI/IES TM-30-18 provides a more comprehensive approach to quantifying and understanding the effects of light source spectrum on the perception of colour. Unfortunately, the new colour metrics described in IES TM-30-15 and ANSI/IES TM-30-18 have not yet been accepted by the CIE. Despite this, some light source manufacturers have started to provide information on their products expressed in terms of the ANSI/IES TM-30-18 colour metrics and designers are beginning to request them. The expectation is that, eventually, the ANSI/IES TM-30-18 metrics will be adopted by many countries and authorities, because they provide a much more comprehensive description of the colour properties of a light source than the CIE General Colour Rendering Index. This will be of value to light source manufacturers and lighting designers as well as those who prepare lighting codes and guides. It is expected that in the future the minimum set of data considered acceptable for describing the colour properties of a light source are likely to be the correlated colour temperature and the associated Duv value, the CIE Fidelity Index or the matching ANSI/IES TM-30-18 Fidelity Index, together with the ANSI/IES TM-30-18 Gamut Index and the ANSI/IES TM-30-18 Colour Vector Graphic.

Exposure to light fundamentally influences human physiology and behaviour by synchronising our biological clock to the external light-dark cycle and controlling melatonin production. In addition to well-controlled laboratory studies, more naturalistic approaches to examining these "non-visual" effects of light have been developed in recent years. As naturalistic light exposure is quite unlike well-controlled stimulus conditions in the laboratory, it is critical to measure light exposure in a person-referenced way, the "spectral diet". To this end, light loggers have been developed to capture personalised light exposure. As an alternative to light sensors integrated into wrist-worn actimeters, pendants or brooch-based light loggers, a recently developed wearable light logger laterally attached to spectacle frames enables the measurement of biologically relevant quantities in the corneal plane. Here, we examine the usability and acceptability of using the light logger in an undergraduate student sample (n=18, mean+1SD: 20.1+1.7 yrs; 9 female; Oxford, UK) in real-world conditions during a 24-hour measurement period. We probed the acceptability of the light logger using rating questionnaires and open-ended questions. Our quantitative results show a modest acceptability of the light logger. A thematic analysis of the open-ended questions reveals that the form factor of the device, in particular, size, weight and stability, and reactions from other people to the wearer of the light logger, were commonly mentioned aspects. In sum, the results indicate the miniaturisation of light loggers and "invisible" integration into extant everyday objects as key areas for future technological development, facilitating the availability of light exposure data for developing personalised intervention strategies in both research, clinical and consumer contexts.

No abstract