Human-environmental interaction: Potential use of pupil size for office lighting controls.

摘要

The goal of this research is to establish a visual environment diagnostic model based on the occupant's physiological responses for detecting improper ambient lighting conditions, a major contributing factor to visual stress and work productivity in office workplace environments. The human body, as a biological mechanism, naturally minimizes the effects of ambient environmental stressors using its physiological autonomous nerve system. This system enables a human's pupils to dilate and contract, depending on visual sensations affected by the ambient lighting conditions. An extensive experiment using human subjects will be conducted in an environmental chamber on the University of Southern California campus. All parametric data including human pupil sizes and lighting parameters will be categorized by age and ethnic origin, to investigate and determine the most common features of pupil sizes per visual sensation among individuals. Lighting parameters, including illuminance (lux), luminance (cd/m2), and lighting-color-temperature (K), will be controlled and maintained for each volunteer subject based on his/her task-type (computer-based or paper-based), which is most typical in the current office environment.;This study will provide unique knowledge concerning how an occupant via his/her physiological signal, i.e. pupil size can interact with the visual (lighting) environment. The research outcome will be potentially applicable in reality to diagnose the lighting quality in workplace environments, and to integrate an occupant's pupil size information for the visual environmental controls.