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A Method for Estimating Discomfort

Glare from Exterior Lighting Systems

Volume 9, Issue 1
April 2011

A publication of the Alliance for Solid-State Illumination Systems and Technologies

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Copyright © 2011 by the Alliance for Solid-State Illumination Systems and Technologies
(ASSIST).

Published by the Lighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 21 Union St.,
Troy, NY 12180, USA. Online at http://www.lrc.rpi.edu.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, print, electronic,
or otherwise, without the express permission of the Lighting Research Center.

ASSIST recommends is prepared by the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at the request of the
Alliance for Solid-State Illumination Systems and Technologies (ASSIST). The
recommendations set forth here are developed by consensus of ASSIST members and the
LRC. ASSIST and the LRC may update these recommendations as new research, technologies,
and methods become available.

Check for new and updated ASSIST recommends documents at:

http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/solidstate/assist/recommends.asp

ASSIST Members

Acuity Brands Lighting Lite-On

Amerlux Global Lighting Solutions NeoPac Lighting
Bridgelux New York State Energy Research and
China Solid State Lighting Alliance Development Authority
Cree OSRAM SYLVANIA / OSRAM Opto
Semiconductors
Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd.
Permlight
Federal Aviation Administration
Philips Lighting
GE Lighting Solutions
Seoul Semiconductor
ITRI, Industrial Technology Research
Institute Sharp Laboratories of America
Intematix Corp. United States Environmental Protection
Agency
LG Electronics
WAC Lighting
LG Innotek
Lighting Science Group

Lighting Research Center Technical Staff

John D. Bullough, Kate Sweater Hickcox, N. Narendran

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Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 4

Discomfort Glare Model Extension ............................................................................................................... 5

Example Calculations.................................................................................................................................... 6

References .................................................................................................................................................... 6

Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................................... 7

About ASSIST ............................................................................................................................................... 7 

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Introduction
Because outdoor lighting is utilized at relatively low light levels and because
outdoor lighting equipment (e.g., lamps and luminaires) tends to be relatively
bright, there is a substantial potential for discomfort glare in outdoor lighting
applications. Discomfort glare is defined as the annoying or even painful
sensation that can be elicited from a bright source of light in the field of view (Rea
2000). It is distinguished from disability glare, which is defined as the reduction in
visibility that a bright light might cause (Rea 2000), through scattered light in the
eye that reduces the apparent luminance contrast of objects in the field of view.
However, a lighting condition that produces disability glare—such as driving at
night with the dashboard display set to its maximum luminance—might not
necessarily create physical discomfort even as it reduces the forward visibility of
a driver.

The effect of light on disability glare, and the mechanisms by which light creates
disability glare, have been well understood for several decades (Fry 1954). In
contrast, the mechanisms for discomfort glare are less well known. Attempts to
formulate objective, physiological measures of discomfort glare such as pupil
constriction, frowning and muscle tension, and electrophysiological measures
have not yet identified a reliable and accurate method for measuring discomfort
glare. Rather, the current state-of-the-art for assessing discomfort glare is the
use of subjective rating scales, such as the De Boer (1967) scale, commonly
used to assess vehicular headlamp glare and glare from other outdoor lighting.
The De Boer (1967) scale uses a nine-point scale with odd-numbered values
having the following equivalencies:

1 unbearable
2
3 disturbing
4
5 just permissible
6
7 satisfactory
8
9 just noticeable

Schmidt-Clausen and Bindels (1974) developed a computational model for

discomfort glare in the context of oncoming headlamp glare. Their model used
the illuminance from the glare source, the surrounding luminance, and the
angular distance between the line of sight and the glare source as inputs. One
shortcoming of this model is the necessity to specify a precise line of sight; when
an observer looks more or less at the glare source, the model predicts infinite
discomfort glare because it includes the term specifying to the angular location of
the source in the denominator of the model equation. Further, specifying a
precise angular distance between the glare source and the line of sight may be
more practical for glare from oncoming headlamps, because the angular
locations of oncoming headlamps are generally restricted to being within
oncoming lanes of traffic, and driver's lines of sight are likely to follow the layout
of the roadway ahead. In comparison, a pedestrian walking along an illuminated
parking lot might occasionally glance directly toward a bright luminaire and his or
her sensation of discomfort glare would not be able to be predicted under such
conditions by the Schmidt-Clausen and Bindels (1974) model.

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To address these issues, Bullough et al. (2008) conducted a series of indoor

laboratory and outdoor field studies of exterior lighting varying among several
dimensions:

 Illuminance from the source (EL)

 Luminance of the source (LL)
 Illuminance from the area surrounding the source (ES)
 Ambient illuminance in the location, if the glare source and the lighting
system it was part of were not installed (EA)

Subjects in these studies provided subjective ratings to each of the conditions

using the De Boer (1967) rating scale. Based on these studies, it was found that
ratings of discomfort glare were much more strongly related to the illuminance
from the glare source than from the luminance of the glare source. From their
data, Bullough et al. (2008) formulated the following model of discomfort glare (all
illuminance values are in lux):

DG = log(EL + ES) + 0.6 log (EL/ES) - 0.5 log (EA)

From this quantity, it is possible to determine the corresponding De Boer (1967)

rating scale value (DB):

DB = 6.6 - 6.4 log DG

This model is part of the outdoor site-lighting performance (OSP) system of

assessing the potential of an outdoor lighting installation to produce light pollution
(Brons et al. 2008), and it has been used successfully to predict discomfort glare
assessments of field installations of exterior lighting (Brons and Rea 2010).
Despite the good agreement between predicted and measured discomfort glare
ratings found by Bullough et al. (2008) and by Brons and Rea (2010), there is
evidence that the luminance of a glare source also can influence discomfort glare
under certain conditions, especially when the light source is large, or the viewing
distance is small. When the glare source subtends more than approximately 0.3°
in the field of view, Rosenhahn and Lampen (2004) found that the maximum
source luminance was a better predictor of discomfort glare than the illuminance
from the source. When the source was smaller, discomfort glare ratings were
driven primarily by the illuminance from the source. Bullough (2011) measured
discomfort glare ratings from sources ranging in luminance from 15,000 to
approximately 1,000,000 cd/m² but producing equivalent illuminances at subjects'
eyes, and found that the higher luminance sources produced significantly higher
glare, resulting in lower De Boer (1967) rating scores.

The objective of the present document is to present an extension to the

discomfort glare model from Bullough et al. (2008) that incorporates the source
luminance, for use in conditions when the source subtends more than 0.3° at the
eye.

Discomfort Glare Model Extension

The luminances used by Bullough et al. (2008) in their laboratory and field
studies averaged close to 50,000 cd/m². The luminances used by Bullough
(2011) ranged from lower than this value to substantially higher. The measured
ratings of discomfort glare were closest to the predicted values when the source
luminance was about 50,000 cd/m². Comparing the luminance differences with
the De Boer (1967) rating scale value differences found by Bullough (2011), a

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luminance-based correction to the equation from the previous section in this

document is proposed, when the source size is larger than 0.3° in visual angle:

DB = 6.6 - 6.4 log DG + 1.4 log (50,000/LL)

Example Calculations
Suppose a location along a commercially developed roadway has an ambient
illuminance (EA) of 1 lx. A parking lot luminaire produces a direct illuminance (EL)
of 5 lx at the eyes of a pedestrian walking along the perimeter of the lot. Light
reflected from a building located behind the luminaire produces a surround
illuminance (ES) of 0.2 lx. The luminaire is large enough to subtend a visual angle
greater than 0.3° at the pedestrian's eyes. If the maximum luminance (LL) of the
luminaire's luminous element in the direction of the pedestrian were 500,000
cd/m², what would be the predicted De Boer (1967) rating value?

First, the discomfort glare (DG) quantity is determined:

DG = log(5 + 0.2) + 0.6 log (5/0.2) - 0.5 log (1) = 1.55

Then, the predicted De Boer (1967) rating value (DB) is calculated:

DB = 6.6 - 6.4 log DG + 1.4 log (50,000/500,000) = 3.97

This value is just below a level of discomfort (a rating value of 4) that has been
proposed by Bhise et al. (1977) as a limit for discomfort glare in the context of
vehicle headlamps. It is not known whether this limit is appropriate for discomfort
glare from fixed outdoor lighting. Nonetheless, if the maximum luminance of the
luminaire could be reduced to 200,000 cd/m² by using some diffusing elements,
the resulting De Boer (1967) rating would be calculated as follows:

DB = 6.6 - 6.4 log DG + 1.4 log (50,000/200,000) = 4.53

The resulting diffusion would be expected to reduce discomfort glare by about a

half of a point on the De Boer (1967) scale, making the luminaire somewhat more
acceptable in terms of rated discomfort.

References
Bhise, V.D., E.I., Farber, C.S. Saunby, G.M. Troell, J.B. Walunas, and A.
Bernstein. 1977. Modeling vision with headlights in a systems context.
Society of Automotive Engineers Congress and Exposition, Detroit, MI:
Society of Automotive Engineers.
Brons, J.A., J.D. Bullough, and M.S. Rea. 2008. Outdoor site-lighting
performance: A comprehensive and quantitative framework for assessing
light pollution. Lighting Research and Technology 40: 201–224.
Brons, J.A., and M.S. Rea. 2010. Limiting light pollution by visualization. Lighting
Journal 75: 42–45.
Bullough, J.D. 2011. Luminance versus luminous intensity as a metric for
discomfort glare. Society of Automotive Engineers 2011 World Congress,
Detroit, MI, April 12-14. Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive
Engineers.

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Bullough, J.D., J.A. Brons, R. Qi, and M.S. Rea. 2008. Predicting discomfort
glare from outdoor lighting installations. Lighting Research and
Technology 40: 225–242.
De Boer, J.B. 1967. Visual perception in road traffic and the field of vision of the
motorist. In Public Lighting. Eindhoven, Netherlands: Philips Technical
Library.
Fry, G.A. 1954. Evaluating disability effects of approaching automobile
headlights. Highway Research Bulletin 89: 38–42.
Rea, M.S. (editor). 2000. IESNA Lighting Handbook: Reference and Application,
9th edition. New York: Illuminating Engineering Society.
Rosenhahn, E.O., and M. Lampen. 2004. New investigation of the subjective
glare effect of projection type headlamps. Society of Automotive
Engineers 2011 World Congress, Detroit, MI, March 8-11. Warrendale,
PA: Society of Automotive Engineers.
Schmidt-Clausen, H.J., and J.T.H. Bindels. 1974. Assessment of discomfort glare
in motor vehicle lighting. Lighting Research and Technology 6: 79–88.

Acknowledgments
ASSIST and the Lighting Research Center would like to thank the following for
their review and participation in the development of this publication: Philips
Hadco; J.P. Freyssinier, H. Ohlhous, M. Overington, N. Skinner of the Lighting
Research Center.

About ASSIST
The Alliance for Solid-State Illumination Systems and Technologies (ASSIST)
was established in 2002 by the Lighting Research Center as a collaboration
between researchers, manufacturers, and government organizations. ASSIST’s
mission is to facilitate broad adoption of solid-state lighting by helping to reduce
major technical and market barriers.