Monika Pölönen

Effect of ambient illumination level on perceived autostereoscopic display quality and depth perception

Twenty participants viewed real-world videos and still images with a small hand-held autostereoscopic device in three ambient illuminations with three display luminance levels. Perceived depth, naturalness, overall image quality, and viewing discomfort were evaluated. The results show that illumination and luminance levels influence perceived quality parameters, but perceived depth is less sensitive to changes in ambient illumination than other viewing quality parameters associated with 3D viewing. Viewing 3D scenes lasting up to 40 min may cause some mild eyestrain symptoms, but symptoms of visually induced motion sickness are rare. The use of autostereoscopic hand-held devices therefore seems feasible in different contexts with different display luminance levels, and the overall viewing experience is relatively comfortable for most of the adult viewers.

Reading e-books on a near-to-eye display: Comparison between a small-sized multimedia display and a hard copy

Eighty-seven participants read an e-book either from a near-to-eye display, a small-size display or a hard copy. Eyestrain, visually induced motion sickness, changes in visual functioning, user experience, and the essential optical parameters of the reading equipment were evaluated. The results indicate that reading from a hard copy was the most comfortable experience. All near-to-eye displays induced eyestrain and sickness symptoms, but the magnitude of these symptoms varied according to the device. The adverse symptoms were related to problems with the display optics and design, text layout, headset fit, use context, and individual differences.

Optical characterization and ergonomical factors of near‐to‐eye displays

Abstract— Near-to-eye displays (NEDs) have unique optical properties requiring different characterization techniques compared to direct-view display measurements. Here, a new version of a NED measurement system is introduced, and optical measurements of five commercially available consumer NED products are discussed. Luminance, focal distance, qualified viewing space, angular properties, and interocular differences are among the values. In addition, these results are compared to extensive subjective studies. The main intention is not to benchmark between the different products, but to show that display measurements are important for NEDs. According to the results, the determination of NEDs characteristics helps to predict the subjective experiences, but the nature of the relation between subjective and objective findings is rather complex and depends on several NED-, user-, and task-related features. Measured characteristics indicate that with a conventional biocular NED system approach of using two microdisplays and their enlarging optics, it is a design and a manufacturing challenge to build an ergonomically satisfactory NED device that fits everyone.

54.3: The Effect of Viewing Duration on Visual Comfort with Near-To-Eye Displays

We tested the effect of viewing duration to the user experience and visual comfort with NED. Nineteen participants viewed “The Queen” for 40 and 95 minutes. Longer viewing time produced more sickness and visual strain symptoms but in general the symptom levels remained low and the experience was pleasant.

36.1: Advances in Near-To-Eye Display Optical Characterization

Some consistent experiments have been made in the past to objectively characterize Near-to-Eye Displays (NED). Here, a new version of a measurement system is introduced and measurements of four commercially available NED products discussed. In addition, these results are briefly compared to subjective studies.

37.3: The Impact of Barrel Distortion on Perception of Stereoscopic Scenes

Barrel distortion introduces horizontal and vertical disparities into stereoscopic content that can impact the perceived depth and cause eye strain. A series of experiments were run by artificially introducing a range of distortions into both eyes, and only one eye of undistorted stereoscopic content in order to evaluate the effect of warping of perceived depth space, and ascertain the minimum level of distortion that will cause image degradation.

P‐38: Flexible Displays: Cognitive Performance Studies

In this research project, we studied peoples ability to read and understand information using, to our knowledge, for the first time a real flexible display. The test consisted of three different bending angles and font sizes with two different lighting conditions. According to the subjective test results, both bending angles and font sizes had a significant influence on the final performance.

5.4: Subtitles in Short 3-D Movies

Autostereoscopic 3-D displays enable immersive experiences in entertainment and media consumption. 3-D movies serve as an example of this and especially in mobile environment the concept of 3-D short movies may offer the user new means of filling micro breaks. Since movie production is international, subtitles are essential in some cases to allow wider distribution of the movies. with 3-D movies the way the subtitles are shown, an understanding of the consequences of the depth levels used either in the content or the subtitles is crucial. This paper describes the results of subjective tests investigating subtitles in stereoscopic 3-D still images for small size displays. More precisely the effect of different depth levels of the subtitles and their interaction with different scene contents with varying depth has been investigated.

Viewing experiences of two-dimensional photos and textual content on autostereoscopic three-dimensional displays

We examined the image quality, image clarity, and viewing comfort of 2-D images rendered on an autostereoscopic display. Opinions on daily use of the content was gathered. Two different stereo displays were used in the experiments-a lenticular lens stereo display employing fixed 3-D stereo and a display with a switchable lenticular lens structure. Images were rendered on the displays with three different rendering schemes. Photos of natural scenes, artificial content, and content containing textual elements were used as the test stimuli. When images with natural scenes or artificial content were categorized into clusters according to the amount of details, significant differences in image quality, image clarity, and viewing comfort scores were observed. When two of the schemes were compared using the images containing textual elements, a significant difference in the viewing comfort and a significant increase in perceived stereoscopic depth impression were found with one of the schemes. Furthermore, image quality and viewing comfort were better with the 2-D display mode than with the 3-D mode. The use of the 2-D text content in the 3-D display mode seemed to be acceptable in general, but for longer term and repeated use, improvements in text quality should be considered. The results indicate that an increase in detail levels may decrease the evaluated image quality, clarity, and viewing comfort. Moreover, for all experimental conditions, better image quality, increased image clarity, and a more comfortable viewing experience had a positive influence on decisions of daily use.

2D viewing experience with fixed 3D displays

We examined the image quality, image clarity and viewing comfort of the 2D images rendered on a fixed 3D autostereoscopic display by using three different rendering schemes. Furthermore, opinions on the daily use of the content were asked. The display used in the study had a lenticular lens as a stereo structure, and both photos of natural scenes and artificial content were used as the test stimuli. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences between the different schemes. When images were divided into subgroups according to the amount of details, significant differences between image quality, image clarity, and viewing comfort scores were found. Moreover, the results indicate that increase in detail levels may decrease evaluated image quality, clarity and viewing comfort. Finally, for all experimental conditions better image quality, image clarity and more comfortable viewing experience had some positive influence on decisions of daily use. In conclusion, amount of details in the content seem to affect on the user experiences of 2D content shown on a 3D display.