A practical metric for melanopic metrology

Abstract

Over the past decade, there has been a growing interest in lighting research on the effects of the recently discovered melanopsin receptor (also referred to as the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell) and its impacts on health and vision. Presently, there is not a generally accepted metrology for dealing with the spectral response of the melanopsin receptor as applied to both lighting and vision research. A proposition to handle this issue from a vision science perspective has been presented in 2014 in the journal Trends in Neurosciences and from a more lighting perspective in 2017 in Lighting Research and Technology. These propositions are complex, and do not retain the CIE standard definition of a lumen. In this paper, we propose an approach based on effective watts and melanopic/photopic ratios that is both simpler and more closely aligned with CIE standard unit definitions. In addition, we include some practical examples of how such ratios are accessible now, and can be used for both lighting and vision research as well as applications.

luox: novel open-access and open-source web platform for calculating and sharing physiologically relevant quantities for light and lighting

“…The melanopic ELR, i.e. the melanopic efficacy of luminous radiation, is similar to the the M/P ratio method proposed elsewhere 74 .…”

Circadian Light Exposures of Shift Working Nurses

“…Recently, a modified version of another commercial actimeter has been developed (Condor, ActTrust model code AT0503LF, or ACTmod) with a 17,6% spectral mismatch to the melanopic action spectrum, using a single sensor, and with a 13,5% spectral mismatch to V(λ), using a second sensor (Price and Lyachev, 2017b). With these two sensors, it should be possible to collect exposure data that are reusable for a greater range of the non-visual spectral response models than using melanopic data alone, including recently proposed melanopic/photopic models (Berman and Clear, 2019).…”

Role of Architectural Design in Creating Circadian-Effective Interior Settings

“…M/P = 1 describes the light source that has equal melanopic and photopic intensities, and thus, equal visual and non-visual effects. When M/P > 1, the light source has higher melanopic intensity; when M/P < 1, photopic intensity is higher than melanopic intensity [63]. The results showed that bluish SPs could increase the intensity and distribution of melanopic luminance and CCT inside spaces, while reddish SPs could increase the photopic luminance intensity and distribution and reduce CCTs.…”