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17 Jun 2002
Flickering images on web sites, television or video games are greater health hazards that affect more people than previously thought, says a Japanese researcher.
The threat gets worse as screens increase in size, claims Masahide Nomura of NEC Fundamental Research Laboratories, Ibaraki. He has invented an electronic filter that prevents image flicker from provoking fits or minor illnesses in viewers.
Nearly 685 children were taken to hospital after suffering seizures while watching the "Pokemon" cartoon on TV Tokyo in December 1997. The programme contained a four second image that flicked between blue and deep red at 12 hertz over most of the screen area.
A 4026 sample of 6- to 18-year-old viewers showed that 0.75% suffered seizures -- 46.7% of these for the first time -- yet only 0.25% of the general population are photosensitive epileptics. Also 10.4% of the sample suffered eye pain, headaches, dizziness, nausea and other problems -- 77.2% of these victims suffering for the first time from flickering images.
Nomura will tell SID 99, in San Jose, California, 16 to 21 May, that any image flicker in the range of 10 to 30 hertz, and 15 to 25 hertz in particular, is a danger. His temporal filter lessens the hazards by reducing the intensity difference between frames in flickering video images while avoiding infringements of copyright. JB
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