Effects of discomfort glare on performance in attending peripheral visual information in displays

This study explored the effects of discomfort glare on detecting and processing peripheral visual information in a complex visual task. The task consisted of comparing the orientation of arrows presented in the central visual field and at 18° in the periphery. The arrows were superimposed on a background video and presented by a projection system in virtual reality. 50% of the presentations were preceded by a mild glare scene with a luminance of 25 cd/m2 flashed prior to the stimulus. Experimental results of 56 participants were analyzed using the theory of signal detection. A significant difference (two-tailed t-test p = 0.01) in detectability of stimuli (d′glare = 1.87; d′no glare = 2.11; Δd′ = 0.24) was obtained when comparing the performance in the two situations of glare. Results show that discomfort glare impairs peripheral visual performance in attending stimuli in a virtual reality environment. We therefore propose to consider discomfort glare as a factor affecting performance in detecting peripheral visual information. Discomfort glare should be included as a quality criterion in rating visual information, as is done in present standards of displays and lighting.