This paper makes a subjective assessment of six task lights in an office environment. Five people with low vision used each task light for a week in their workplace and completed a questionnaire. The main findings suggest tha people prefer a light source that does not get hot and on a flexible mount that produces an even area of illuminance. If the source is too close to the task then unevenness and heat are likely to be a problem. People appear willing to pay up to three times as much for a fluorescent task light on a 92 cms long jointed mount with an adjustable head as for a hot tungsten or tungsten halogen bulb in a small shade on a short (40 to 60 cms) inflexible mount.
References
1.
Hill, S. & Wright, M. (1999) "Lighting for low vision: the office environment" . The Optician, Vol. 217, no. 5696, 9th April 1999, pp.28-32.
2.
Siegel, S. (1988) Non-parametric statistics for the behavioral sciences . New York, London: McGraw-Hill .
