Ergonomic evaluation of three popular Chinese e-book displays for prolonged reading

Abstract

This research has highlighted the importance of the prolonged reading of e-book displays, and three popular e-book displays including a personal digital assistant (PDA), an e-book reader (Reader), and a notebook computer (NB) were evaluated in ergonomic perspective. Twenty-two university students (11 males and 11 females) participated in the formal experiment. They performed three 100-min reading trials with a different display for each trial. Visual fatigue, reading performance, and subjective satisfaction were collected at the end of each trial. The results are as follows: first, visual fatigue was significantly greater when subjects read from the PDA compared with the other two displays. Second, reading speed and accuracy rate were not significantly different among the three displays. Third, female subjects tended to have better reading performance than male subjects did. Finally, the subjects preferred the NB to the other two displays, because the NB had the highest satisfaction ratings in text legibility, luminance contrast, and screen size. Furthermore, some recommendations were provided to select or design an adequate e-book display for prolonged reading. Relevance to industry With the increase in e-books publications, various e-book displays and their sales have continuously grown in recent years. For designing a good e-book display, it is necessary to understand what factors would affect user performances, visual fatigue, and satisfaction. Moreover, the significant effect of character size and screen size on visual fatigue and satisfaction may assist in improving e-book display related consumer products.