Abstract
Reading is one of the popular activities among elderly persons. A reasonable level of daylight illumination can ensure the visual comfort of reading for elderly persons. State arousal level and subjective comfort report are important parameters reflecting the effect of daylight illumination on visual comfort of reading in elderly persons. In this study, daylight illumination measurements were conducted in a nursing institution of Shenyang, China. Moreover, the methods of electrodermal activity (EDA) physiological index measurement and questionnaire scoring were used to compare and analyze the state arousal level and visual comfort of elderly persons under different illumination conditions. The results show that when elderly persons were involved in their daily reading activity, the acceptable daylight illumination range was between 300 and 1000 lx. When the daylight illumination was between 600 and 800 lx, the state arousal level and visual comfort was high; when it was 700 lx, the state arousal level and visual comfort was the highest. Although 500 and 900 lx both indicated neutral illumination, the evaluations were more consistent at 500 lx than at 900 lx. At 300, 400, and 1000 lx, visual comfort was poor and the state arousal level was low. At 300 lx, visual comfort was the worst and the state arousal level was the lowest. This study provides a reliable reference for architects to design the daylight conditions of the living spaces of the elderly.
Highlights
An increasing number of people are aging; the quality of life of elderly persons has become the focus of the international community
A total of 217 illumination data points ranging from 300 to 1000 lx were used; this is the daylight illumination range that is acceptable for the elderly person to read
4.07 is comfort (n) superior to that of 900 lx. It can be seen from the experimental data that the peak of subjective visual comfort score appeared at 600 lx, and the peak of state arousal level appeared at 700 lx
Summary
An increasing number of people are aging; the quality of life of elderly persons has become the focus of the international community. It is crucial to provide a comfortable lighting environment for elderly persons. Due to visual decline [1], special consideration should be given to the lighting design of their living spaces. Reading is among the most popular leisure activities among elderly persons [2,3,4,5]. Elderly persons often need higher illumination to make up for the decline in visual ability. Studies have shown that illumination considerably influences the reading ability of elderly persons with low vision [7]. As the world’s population ages, many countries and institutions have studied the illumination standard of reading for elderly persons and recommended specific values and ranges. Lighting design standards in different countries do not have an agreed illumination value required for reading.
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