Smartphone headache in adults
It is being reported that smartphones are now giving visual discomfort, fatigue and even headache in adults playing video-games.
Martin Banks, Professor of Optometry and Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley who is the lead author of the study comments, ‘When watching stereo 3D displays, the eyes must focus, that is, accommodate to the distance of the screen because that is where the light comes from. At the same time, the eyes must converge to the distance of the stereo content, which may be in front of or behind the screen’.
This is technically known as vergence-accommodation, and it is this conflict and its effect on viewers of stereo 3D displays that the study has reported on. The study was conducted on adults. It will have a more serious outcome if the study were to be conducted in children or young adults.
This is an area of research where basic science meets application and we hope that the science can proceed quickly enough to keep up with the increasingly widespread use of technology’, added Banks.
The authors also propose that guidelines should be established for the range of disparities presented on such displays and the positioning of viewers relative to the display but in a world which expects colour and excitement in our entertainment it may be that self, or parental control that might be the first step to avoid eyestrain and headaches.
Written by:Dr. Ajay Sati.
