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Dr. Haegerstrom-Portnoy

UC Berkeley Vision Science

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Vision changes    with   aging

Introduction

This page demonstrates some changes in vision with age. We studied the effects of differences in luminance and contrast, with and without the presence of a surrounding glare, in two age-stratified groups of subjects.

Methods

The 2 groups of subjects averaged 62.5 and 87.5 years of age, respectively. Visual acuity was assessed under 4 different conditions. Shown below in Figure 1 are simulations of these 4 conditions: high contrast, high luminance (black on white); low contrast, high luminance (light gray on white); low contrast, low luminance (dark gray on black); low contrast, high luminance plus a surrounding glare source.

Fig. 1. Simulations of the 4 visual acuity assessment conditions
High contrast High luminance	Low contrast High luminance
Low contrast Low luminance	Low contrast High luminance Surrounding glare

Results

Figure 2 summarizes some of our results. Shown are the smallest letters on the acuity charts visible on average by the 2 age groups, under each of the 4 conditions. (Note: these sample chart letters should display at approximately the correct size under 1024x768 resolution). In general, the younger group was able to identify smaller letters than the older group under all 4 conditions. The difference between ages was minimal under the normal high contrast, high luminance viewing condition. A reduced contrast had some effect on the younger group, and a marked effect on the older group. Under the low contrast condition, reducing the overall luminance reduced acuity noticeably in both age groups; however the addition of a surrounding glare to the low contrast condition had little effect on the younger group, but resulted in a substantial drop in acuity for the older group.

Fig. 2. Shown are examples of the smallest letters correctly identified by the two age groups, under each of the four visual acuity assessment conditions.
CONTRAST	High	Low	Low	Low
LUMINANCE	High	High	Low	High
GLARE	No	No	No	Yes
GROUP 1 Median age = 62.5 years
GROUP 2 Median age = 87.5 years

Conclusions

We found very little difference in normal high contrast, high luminance visual acuity between groups with median ages 62.5 and 87.5 years. Reducing the contrast affected the older group more than the younger, although both groups suffered a marked reduction in visual acuity when the overall brightness was dropped. The addition of surrounding glare in the low contrast condition had little further effect on the younger group, but significantly impaired vision in the older group. This finding has importance for seniors in glare conditions, such as in driving an automobile at night.