Does refresh rate has effect on eye strain?

Pushkin

Dear friends 😀,

I have a dilemma between two monitors for work purposes, while my emphasis is on eye health.

Bottom line, will a screen that has a higher refresh rate will lower the stain on the eyes?

Both screens have similar parameters except for the refresh rate.

1. Gigabyte M27Q (170 Hz)

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/gigabyte/m27q

2. Dell S2722QC (60 Hz)

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/dell/s2722qc

As I understand the relevant parameters for maintaining eye health are:

Flicker free technology
Blue light filter
High resolution -> Image sharpness
High contrast
Anti-glare
Refresh rate (?)

LCD screens keep the pixel on when the image is static - sample & hold (1)

Nonetheless, there are LCD screens in which polar exchange is performed in every pixel at a frequency of 30 Hz which is a fast jitter that is hard to notice - polarity inversion (2)

Is it possible that a high refresh rate reduces the effect of polarity inversion?

Sources:

(1) https://pcmonitors.info/articles/factors-affecting-pc-monitor-responsiveness/

(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flicker_(screen)

Also, the Dell monitor has a better score on rtings.com in the "Monitor For Programming" category.

I would love to hear your opinion,

Thank you!

Seagull

"Nonetheless, there are LCD screens in which polar exchange is performed in every pixel at a frequency of 30 Hz which is a fast jitter that is hard to notice - polarity inversion "

This happens at half the refresh rate of the monitor, every refresh the voltages invert. So in a higher refresh rate monitor the the inversion frequency will be higher.

Back to the overall question, I might pick the high refresh rate monitor, because then I have more choices. I could try out each refresh rate and decide which I preferred.

Pushkin

Seagull

Dear Seagull,
Thank you for your comment!
I was told refresh rate is a major factor only when there are flickers due to PWM.
Since the Dell is flicker-free shouldn't it be the best choice because of its high resolution?

Seagull

Pushkin

I've not heard that about PWM, but I imagine both monitors have flicker free backlights. This is common feature now, I would be surprised if any premium monitor had PWM.

asus389

I get a bit of a motion sickness effect with the iPhone 13 pro and MacBook Pro 14 which use a variable refresh screen (up to 120 hz). I think if you are susceptible to eye strain a constant refresh rate (whatever it is) is better.

mike

asus389

Hi, i have read your posts on this forum, and I noticed that you wrote “It’s worse when my allergies are causing sinus issues.”. It looks that a bunch of us with the ledstrain-problem have some problems with their sinuses, me included.

Have to tried patching/cover one eye?

asus389

mike I was diagnosed at one point with a convergence issue with my right eye. But it's transient. If my sinuses aren't acting up it doesn't seem to effect me much. At one point I had a sinus infection that effected my right sphenoid sinus which is near my right optical nerve which showed up on a CT scan. This type of infection/inflammation can cause convergence issues and double vision. It cleared up with antibiotics. While I had this infection, I was having symptoms all the time, screen or not. They were magnified (no pun intended) by wearing my glasses for some reason. Its almost as if it changed my prescription in some subjective way.

I do have serious allergies and when I am congested/irritated I can get vision issues when my sinuses are really inflamed (even without an infection). It seems to cause visual irritability and sometimes migraines. The main trigger for this type of irritation is mold in buildings. It is also sometimes triggered by outdoor irritants.

I haven't done an extened trial with an eye patch, but I did do pencil pushups and a prism at one point. It did help somewhat, but the antibiotics for that sinus infection seemed to be a more permanent solution. I still react to some types of screens though, so maybe its worth a try.

varyoo

asus389 Hello! I have the same problem, when my sinus is congested my vision is very diminished, to the point I went to the eye doctor because I could not stare at my screen without great effort.

Do you have any tips you can share me on how to improve this situation?

reaganry

my Dell U2414s have been more comfortable when overclocked to 75hz and my 144hz LG was good for 2 years

Abeabe

I am sensitive to pwm and I can use comfortably a sony 65x90L but only if I use it connected to a pc at 4k (444 RGB) and 120hz with a 4090 nvidia card, at 60hz or 1080p it gives me eye strain, I use the brightness at 0, contrast 50 or less, game mode, all motion or other extra processing disabled, local dimming at medium, sharpness at 0 and reality creation disabled, the tv is very sharp even with sharpness at 0, there is almost no difference between 0 and the default 50, but it gives me eye strain when sharpness or reality creation are enabled.