Your Employees Are Going to the Eye Doctor En Masse

When heavy computer usage is involved, your employees’ eyes may be the first thing to go.

One study found that in 1991, about one of every seven eye-doctor visits were for computer-related problems. Certainly, that number has increased through the decade.

What kinds of monitors are best at reducing glare?

Well, the University of California at Berkeley researchers recently completed a study to see if computer monitors with vacuum-deposit thin film coatings reduce glare better than uncoated or standard-coated monitors. The profs found that such monitors indeed work better (a 15 times glare reduction vs. 4-8 times for spin coating).

Employees with those kind of monitors were found to perform visual tasks considerably faster and more accurately on these displays than on either uncoated or standard-coated (spin) displays.

The study was funded by Viratec, maker of the monitors deemed to be the best. Nevertheless, it’s a good reminder to at least do a little extra research when choosing a monitor and see which one can best keep the doctor away.

SOURCE: Apogee Enterprises, Inc., Minneapolis, September 1999, and James E. Sheedy, a professor at Berkeley.