Effect of different coloured luminous surrounds on LED discomfort glare perception

Recently, there has been increased interest in energy-efficient lighting as energy resources become higher in demand. Anecdotal evidence suggests that certain populations believe light-emitting diodes (LED) produce more glare than traditional technologies. This may be due to a number of factors such as spectral power distribution (SPD), source luminance, or beam intensity distribution. A study was conducted to assess the effect of different SPDs on the perception of discomfort glare from an LED source. For the range of conditions evaluated, the presence of any luminous surround significantly reduced the perception of discomfort glare from the LED array. The blue luminous surround reduced discomfort glare perception significantly less than the white or the yellow luminous surrounds. The implications for solid-state lighting systems are discussed.