Effects of Instrument Panel Luminance and Chromaticity on Reading Performance and Preference in Simulated Driving

Twenty-four subjects (men and women from three age groups) read aloud words presented on two displays emulating written legends on automobile instrument panels while driving a simulated vehicle in nighttime conditions. The words were presented in eight different chromaticities, two brightness levels, four character sizes, and two levels of word complexity. The results indicate that color of illumination per se had little effect on reading and driving performance but did have a reliable effect on subjective preference. Brightness had an effect on performance only for the two smaller character sizes. Character size had marked effects on both performance and subjective preferences. The two smaller character sizes yielded significant performance decrements for older drivers.

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