Recent studies of lighting and vision

Summary

During the period between the world wars much attention was paid to the influence of lighting on vision. These early researches showed conclusively that very considerable gains in visual performance resulted from small increases in illumination level above the standards then prevailing.

Since 1930 or thereabouts research in the relationship between lighting and vision has been undertaken in many organisations including those associated with the development of electric lamps. The studies in this more recent period have often been of a high standard, and have yielded much valuable information on the factors which influence visual performance. This is the period which is covered in this review.

The review is written from the standpoint of a worker in a part of the field, and as a result emphasis has been given to this part. In view of the overwhelming bulk of the American work, relatively little mention has been made of it, although it was read and abstracted in the preparation of the paper. This is solely because it was felt that ophthalmologists will have been made aware of its significance by digests which have appeared in the American ophthalmological literature, and that a detailed repetition here would be unnecessary.

Studies which have appeared in French, Dutch, of German lighting journals have also not been given their due prominence. There is, in fact, valuable work to be done by a Continental reviewer to bring this work into the experience of English-speaking lighting engineers. This applies especially to work done during, and immediately following the 1939–45 war.