Readability Assessment of Large-sized Electronic Paper Signage Using Visual Search Task

Abstract

Large-sized electronic papers have been used for digital signage in the public space. Although the legibility and readability of the text on the electronic paper was examined in the previous studies, the studies were done with small-sized electronic papers such as an electronic book. In the present study, we compared readability of Japanese texts in the large electronic paper display with those in the paper and LCD, using visual search task and impression evaluation. Search speed and error rate did not differ significantly between the display media in the visual search experiment, and the impression evaluation did not show significant differences in the "easiness to read text" between the media. The results suggest that texts in the large-sized electronic paper can be as readable as LCD and paper, under appropriate conditions. In addition, the subjects experienced less dryness and flicker in the eyes with the electronic paper and paper than with LCD.