What Does Glare Mean in Lighting

Fengxiang Li
2021-11-04T11:00:00-07:00

what is glare, how to measure it, what does glare do to your eyes, and how to reduce it? This blog will lead you through this useful knowledge about glare.
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Light reflects off objects and enters your eyes, allowing you to see. However, it can also be the source of visual issues such as glare.

Glare may make driving along a wet highway late at night or watching your favorite baseball team without squinting an unpleasant and occasionally hazardous experience. So, what is glare, how to measure it, what does glare do to your eyes, and how to reduce it? This blog will lead you through this useful knowledge about glare.

What Is Glare—The Definition

Glare is defined as a loss of visual performance or discomfort caused by a light intensity in the visual field that is greater than the intensity of light to which the eyes are acclimated. Simply explained, glare happens when an excessive amount of light enters your eye and interferes with its capacity to handle it. Glare may be distracting and even hazardous, and it can occur in a variety of ways at any time of day or night. Glare can be emitted directly from a light source, or it might be reflected. Glare is classified into four types: distracting glare, uncomfortable glare, debilitating glare, and blinding glare.

How to Measure Glare

The brightness adjustment and category rating procedures have been the most prevalent approaches for studying discomfort glare in psychophysics experiments.

Does Light Flare Harm Your Eyes

Yes, it does!

Uncomfortable: When trying to see in strong light, you may squint and turn away. Your eyes may well tear up.

Disabling: Glare might impair your vision at times. Light scatters inside your eye, making it difficult to view clear pictures. When glare is disabled, the loss of contrast is generally severe in dim, rather than bright, surroundings.

What Causes Glare in Lighting

Glare is a common result from strong lights. They can also occur as a result of wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses, or as a side effect of cataract or LASIK surgery. However, if glare appears unexpectedly, it is extremely upsetting, or is accompanied by pain, impaired vision, or other symptoms, they may indicate serious eye disease.

Discomfort Glare

image source: irc.rpi.edu

Reduced Glare

image source: irc.rpi.edu

Do LEDs Cause Glare

While some LED lights have extremely high brightness (intensity), they do not emit more glare than halogen bulbs or other traditional lights. Glare can be reduced by using a product or lighting design that directs light only where it is required.

How to Reduce Glare

There are several solutions that are advised to produce pleasant and healthful lighting to decrease light glare. To begin, if the light fixtures you select are freely adjustable, you may decrease glare by readjusting the light fixtures to a location where the glare is regulated to the lowest degree. The second approach for reducing lighting glare is to disperse the light, which may be accomplished by constructing anti-glare lenses and reflectors for evenly and smoothly spreading the illumination. Last but not least, the position of lights affects lighting glare, thus it is critical that the luminaires be set ideally where reflected light from certain shiny and smooth surfaces is not easily formed.