Effects of Image Characteristics on Preferred Viewing Distance and Subjective Legibility for Reflective Liquid Crystal Displays

Abstract

We investigated the effects of lightness, contrast, and character size on preferred viewing distance (the most legible distance) and subjective legibility for reflective liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Twenty-nine subjects with normal visual acuity assessed the preferred viewing distance and the subjective legibility of 25 lightness and contrast combinations for five character sizes which were displayed on hard copies that simulated reflective LCDs. The results indicated that the preferred viewing distance correlated with the subjective legibility in the simulated reflective LCD. The relationships between the preferred viewing distance and the display image characteristics for reflective LCDs were discussed.