Viewer’s Age Dependence in Subjective Evaluation of Low-Quality Images Presented on High-Definition Displays

In recent years, rapid advances in display technology bring about the possibility of viewing old video contents reproduced by state-of-the-art display devices such as 4K/8K ultra-high-definition TVs. The mismatch between low-quality content images and reproducing them on high-definition displays may cause visually induced human health problems. We carried out an experiment and a questionnaire to measure participants’ feelings of strangeness, discomfort and sickness in viewing a low-quality video clip presented on a high-definition display. Then we compared the results with the case of a high- quality video clip using the same display. We found that low- quality images can cause certain health problems depending on viewers’ ages. For older people such images can cause eye focusing problems rather than general symptoms, whereas for young and middle-aged people they cause both eye focusing problems and general symptoms such as discomfort and fatigue.