title: Effects of transient blur and VDT screen luminance changes on eyeblink rate.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of three different strategies aiming at increasing spontaneous eyeblink rate (SEBR) during computer use.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 12 subjects (5 female) with a mean age of 28.7 years were instructed to read a text presented on a computer display terminal during 15min. Four reading sessions (reference and three "blinking events" [BE]) were programmed in which SEBR was digitally recorded. "Blinking events" were based on either a slight distortion of the text characters or on the presentation of a white screen instead of the text, with or without accompanying blinking instructions. All BE had a duration of 20ms and occurred every 15s. Participants graded the intrusiveness of each BE configuration, and the number of lines participants read in each session was recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data from 11 subjects was analysed. A statistically significant difference in SEBR was encountered between the experimental configuration consisting on a white screen plus blinking instructions (7.8 blinks/min) and both reference (5.2 blinks/min; p=0.049) and white screen without blinking instructions (4.8 blinks/min; p=0.038). All three BE had superior levels of intrusiveness than reference conditions, although the performance of participants (line count) was not compromised.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The joint contribution of white screen and blinking instructions has been shown to result in a short term improvement in blinking rate in the present sample of non-dry eye computer users. Further work is necessary to improve the acceptance of any BE aiming at influencing SEBR.
authors.affiliation: Research Group of Centre Universitari de la Visió, Optics and Optometry Department, Technical University of Catalonia, Spain. Electronic address: gcardona@oo.upc.edu.
authors.forename: Genís
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cardona
authors.affiliation: Cottet Optics, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.affiliation: Research Group of Centre Universitari de la Visió, Optics and Optometry Department, Technical University of Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Lluïsa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quevedo
authors.affiliation: Research Group of Centre Universitari de la Visió, Optics and Optometry Department, Technical University of Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gispets
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology*; D016288:Computer Terminals; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological; D015352:Dry Eye Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011932:Reading; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Blinking; Computer vision syndrome; Dry eye; Tear break-up time; Visual display terminal