Impact of Light in Well-Being

Research on the effect of light on autonomous physiology has concentrated on circadian rhythms including seasonal affective disorder (SAD), sleep disorders, and work disruptions. A natural circadian rhythm of light exposure influences health by regulating melatonin production and influencing biochemical and hormonal body rhythms.

Dynamic Lighting

Our Hungarian partners (BME) also have empirical laboratory evidence for the superiority of so-called “dynamic lighting”, which provides light outputs varying over time, for visually demanding activity.

As natural lighting is almost always dynamic, there are probably evolutionary mechanisms in humans that make them prefer a certain dynamism of lighting. BME has shown that well-defined dynamic lighting with carefully chosen characteristics can induce better performance and lower strain.

Indoor Lighting

The negative impact of poorly designed or maintained indoor lighting resulting in unbalanced luminances in the field of view, glare, wrong intensities and light colours (spectra), flicker etc. has been documented. These intensify existing vision problems, add to eye fatigue and headaches and contribute to a loss of concentration, esp. in the elderly.

Tests conducted in office and work environments by BLL have also shown that bad lighting reduces concentration and productivity significantly, which is why they have developed systems which provide glare-free lighting by directing natural light deep into the room via reflective ceiling elements. On-going studies of BLL in cooperation with the maternity clinic in Innsbruck indicate that intensity and spectrum of the illumination significantly influence the state of health and accelerate the recovery of mothers and their newborns.

Ambient Lighting

So called ‘ambient lighting’ with varying colour, temperature and brightness has been used by BLL for several years. However, the user has no possibility to interact with the predefined control strategy (mostly defined by the time of the day) and the lighting solutions do not take into account individual differences.

ALADIN will advance beyond the present state-of-the art by developing an intelligent control system that is capable of

• capturing and analysing the individual and situational differences of the psycho-physiological effects of lighting,

• enabling the users to make adaptations tailored to their specific needs and wishes.