Does the age of liquid crystal displays influence observer performance?
OBJECTIVE
As liquid crystal displays (LCDs) age, the whitepoint shifts toward a yellow hue, changing the appearance of the displayed images. This study examined whether this shift in whitepoint influences observer performance and visual search efficiency of radiologists interpreting clinical images.


METHODS
Six radiologists viewed 50 digital radiography chest images (half with a solitary pulmonary nodule, half without) on three LCDs that had their whitepoint adjusted to simulate monitor age: new, 1 year old, and 2.5 years old. Presence or absence of nodules was reported along with reader confidence. Results were analyzed using receiver operating characteristic techniques. Visual search was measured on a subset of 15 images using eye position recording techniques.


RESULTS
There was no statistically significant difference in receiver operating characteristic performance as a function of monitor age (F = 0.4901, P = .6187). In terms of total viewing time, there were not statistically significant differences between the three monitors (F = 0.056, P = .9452). The dwell times associated with each decision type (true and false, positive and negative) did not differ significantly as a function of monitor age for any decision.


CONCLUSIONS
At least up to 2.5 years of age, the shift in whitepoint toward the yellow range does not significantly impact diagnostic accuracy or visual search efficiency of radiologists.
Krupinski
Elizabeth A
EA
Department of Radiology, University of Arizona, 1609 N. Warren Bldg. 211 Room 112, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA. Krupinski@radiology.arizona.edu
Roehrig
Hans
H
Fan
Jiahua
J
D015350:Contrast Sensitivity; D003626:Data Display; D006801:Humans; D050866:Liquid Crystals; D015588:Observer Variation; D012372:ROC Curve; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014796:Visual Perception