Ambient-task combined lighting to regulate autonomic and psychomotor arousal levels without compromising subjective comfort to lighting

BACKGROUND: Although evidence of both beneficial and adverse biological effects of lighting has accumulated, biologically favorable lighting often does not match subjectively comfortable lighting. By controlling the correlated color temperature (CCT) of ambient lights, we investigated the feasibility of combined lighting that meets both biological requirements and subjective comfort. METHODS: Two types of combined lightings were compared; one consisted of a high-CCT (12000 K) light-emitting diode (LED) panel as the ambient light and a low-CCT (5000 K) LED stand light as the task light (high-low combined lighting), and the other consisted of a low-CCT (4500 K) LED panel as the ambient light and the same low-CCT (5000 K) stand light as the task light (low-low combined lighting) as control. Ten healthy subjects (5 young and 5 elderly) were exposed to the two types of lighting on separate days. Autonomic function by heart rate variability, psychomotor performances, and subjective comfort were compared. RESULTS: Both at sitting rest and during psychomotor workload, heart rate was higher and the parasympathetic index of heart rate variability was lower under the high-low combined lighting than the low-low combined lighting in both young and elderly subject groups. Increased psychomotor alertness in the elderly and improved sustainability of concentration work performance in both age groups were also observed under the high-low combined lighting. However, no significant difference was observed in the visual-analog-scale assessment of subjective comfort between the two types of lightings. CONCLUSIONS: High-CCT ambient lighting, even when used in combination with low-CCT task lighting, could increase autonomic and psychomotor arousal levels without compromising subjective comfort. This finding suggests the feasibility of independent control of ambient and task lighting as a way to achieve both biological function regulation and subjective comfort.