title: Effect of viewing angle on luminance and contrast for a five-million-pixel monochrome display and a nine-million-pixel color liquid crystal display.
abstract: Digital imaging systems used in radiology rely on electronic display devices to present images to human observers. Active-matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs) continue to improve and are beginning to be considered for diagnostic image display. In spite of recent progress, AMLCDs are characterized by a change in luminance and contrast response with changes in viewing direction. In this article, we characterize high pixel density AMLCDs (a five-million-pixel monochrome display and a nine-million-pixel color display) in terms of the effect of viewing angle on their luminance and contrast response. We measured angular luminance profiles using a custom-made computer-controlled goniometric instrument and a conoscopic Fourier-optics instrument. We show the angular luminance response as a function of viewing angle, as well as the departure of the measured contrast from the desired response. Our findings indicate small differences between the five-million-pixel (5 MP) and the nine-million-pixel (9 MP) AMLCDs. The 9 MP shows lower variance in contrast with changes in viewing angle, whereas the 5 MP provides a slightly better GSDF compliance for off-normal viewing.
authors.affiliation: Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland 20857, USA.
authors.forename: Dipesh H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Fifadara
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Averbukh
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Channin
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Badano
mesh_terms: D015350:Contrast Sensitivity; D003626:Data Display; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement; D014584:User-Computer Interface