LIGHT AND VISION 2-15

Using Fig. 2-12 the footcandles required for 98 per cent performance
may be obtained:
First, measure the critical size of the detail to be seen, the distance from the eyes,
and the reflectance of the detail and its background. Then by plotting these values
on the nomogram and drawing straight lines point to point (left to right), the foot-
candles required are found.
These values represent 98 per cent of maximum performance by un-
fatigued, young observers with normal or corrected-to-normal eyes, by
maximum exertion, in ideally lighted cubicles, free from any hindering
influences. It is good engineering practice to provide a safety factor,
especially when it is expedient to depart from the ideal test conditions of
the laboratory.
Note: For equal acuity the eyes of people around 60 years old (though
normal for that age) require about twice the illumination required by the
eyes of 20-year-olds. (See Fig. 2-13.) The handicap of persons with
visual deficiencies decreases as the illumination is increased.
FIG. 2-13. Because of the reduction in pupil size
which accompanies advancing age, higher bright-
nesses are required for equivalent effect in eyes of
older observers. B
x
= brightness at x years as
compared with brightness (B
2o)
at 20 years.
30 40 50 60 70
AGE IN YEARS
Recommended American Interior-Lighting Practices
Judged against the British criteria, current American practice
19
appears
to permit achievement of a better performance rating than might be ex-
pected under the British code.
Visibility based upon size, contrast, and brightness. As a means of meas-
uring visibility it has been proposed that the visibility of a series of twenty
standard black-on-white parallel-bar test objects (Fig. 2-4A), each of which
subtends a visual angle in the series 1, 2,
3,-20 minutes, be reduced to
threshold by means of a graduated density neutral filter.
20
The density
necessary to reduce each test object to threshold is assumed to represent
the relative visibility of that object above threshold.
A visibility meter operating on this principle is available. (See Fig.
2-144.) Two identical filters, one for each eye, are provided in this