Stimulating a blink: reduction of eye fatigue with visual stimulus

Computers make incredible amounts of information available at our fingertips. As computers become integral parts of our lives, we spend more time staring at computer monitor than ever before, sometimes with negative effects. One major concern is the increasing number of people suffering from Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). CVS is caused by extensive use of computers, and its symptoms include eye fatigue, frequent headaches, dry eyes, and blurred vision. It is possible to partially alleviate CVS if we can remind users to blink more often. We present a prototype system that uses a camera to monitor a user's blink rate, and when the user has not blinked in a while, the system triggers a blink stimulus. We investigated four different types of eye-blink stimulus: screen blurring, screen flashing, border flashing, and pop-up notifications. Users also rated each stimulus type in terms of effectiveness, intrusiveness, and satisfaction. Results from our user studies show that our stimuli are effective in increasing user blink rate with screen blurring being the best.