LED lighting is now commonplace across homes, businesses, and industrial settings. It uses little energy and provides a great deal of light. However, a new study suggests it may come with a trade-off. New research suggests human vision may not perform at its peak under this particular form of illumination.
The study ran with a small number of subjects (n=22) aged between 23 to 65 years. They were tested prior to the study for normal visual function and good health. Participants worked exclusively under LED lighting, with a select group then later also given supplemental incandescent light (with all its attendant extra wavelengths) in their working area—which appears to have been a typical workshop environment.
Incandescent bulbs have a much broader spectrum of output than even the best LEDs. Credit: Research paper
Notably, once incandescent lighting was introduced, those experimental subjects showed significant increases in visual performance using ChromaTest color contrast testing. This was noted across both tritan (blue) and protan (red) axes of the test, which involves picking out characters against a noisy background. Interestingly, the positive effect of the incandescent lighting did not immediately diminish when those individuals returned to using purely LED lighting once again. At tests 4 and 6 weeks after the incandescent lighting was removed, the individuals continued to score higher on the color contrast tests. Similar long-lasting effects have been noted in other studies involving supplementing LED lights with infrared wavelengths, however the boost has only lasted for around 5 days.
The exact mechanism at play here is unknown. The study authors speculate as to a range of complex physical and biological mechanisms that could be at play, but more research will be needed to tease out exactly what’s going on. In any case, it suggests there may be a very real positive effect on vision from the wider range of wavelengths provided by good old incandescent bulbs. As an aside, if you’ve figured out how to get 40/40 vision with a few cheap WS2812Bs, don’t hesitate to notify the tip line.
Thanks to [Keith Olson] for the tip!
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Get ONLY high-CRI ( Color Rendition Index ) lighting.
This problem was real back in the fluorescent-lighting days ( as anybody who ever had to work in “cool white” fluorescent lighting can tell you ).
Simply do not buy any lighting with lower than CRI of 85, & I avoid buying anything less than 95.
Philips has some Ultra Definition ( or whatever they’re called ) bulbs with CRI of 95.
Set 2 lamps up, 1 with high-CRI & the other without, & then hold your hand under 1, then the other, & SEE how different your health/tone looks, under the 2 different kinds of light!
Quartz Halogen gives the best quality,
but you can go MASSIVELY lighter on the ecology while remaining close to that, with good CRI lighting.
People not knowing to do this, AND officials refusing to regulate ( for people’s health: you can measure the increase in sick-leave, as you drop down in CRI, in a workplace ), are helping undermine our population’s health.
Which isn’t their job: they’re supposed to be doing the opposite.
But what else is “new”.
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