Poor eyesight, light sensitivity, motion sensitivity...

Ananiujitha

So I have poor eyesight, and have been struggling with light sensitivity, motion sensitivity, other disabilities, and frequent migraines as a result. I'm trying to figure out my options.

Glasses can only do so much. I've tested and updated my prescriptions 2 or 3 times since this started.

Bright screens are bad, flashing is bad, but smooth animations and standard web design are absolutely the worst.

I'm currently using a Benq GW2280 Flicker-Free monitor for my computer, with the brightness set to 0%, contrast 0%, red 15%, green 15%, blue 5%. It's still uncomfortably bright. But it's hard to find a medium where the screen isn't either too dim to read or too bright to read. And standard text on it is too small in light mode, and too small and blurry due to halos in dark mode.

In Firefox and Thunderbird, I can work around some of these things. I turn off blinking cursors, turn off animation, turn off smooth scrolling animation, turn off autoplay, and various other animations, and reduce the frame rate to 1/second. I also switch fonts to Andika, and set all font sizes to 16 pt.

I've had an easier time with e-ink tablets, but not using them as monitors.

I'm currently using MacOS 10.14.6 with old-style font smoothing. I can't read text with new-style font smoothing, at least on my current monitor and with its resolution, and I haven't been able to use never versions such as MacOS 12 or 13 due to their lack of support for old-style font smoothing.

So I'm trying to figure out my options:

A full-size rlcd monitor. It'd be very expensive, and I'm not sure it'd help, but it might be my best option. It'd have the same number of pixels and same refresh rate: https://www.sunvisiondisplay.com/rE-Monitor
A new conventional monitor. Better resolution might help some font rendering issues I've run into. Increasing frame rates above the flicker fusion frequency might also help. But I'm doubtful any of this would work, and it's hard to find which monitors can be turned down enough, and work well while turned down.
Another operating system. I've tried several Linux distros in VirtualBox since they're supposed to have more options. They don't seem to have global options to reduce frame rates below the monitor's lowest built-in refresh rate. Some of them have options to stop blinking cursors everywhere. I haven't searched for options to adjust text smoothing, etc.
An app which can somehow fix system-wide font smoothing, reduce frame rates, etc. …? Tinkertool can do a bit in my current version, but can't fix font smoothing in newer versions.
A device between my computer and monitor which can somehow reduce frame rates, adjust font smoothing, etc. …?

AGI

Ananiujitha Maybe, in parallel to exploring tech solutions that are only temporary, you should try to address any underlying eye condition you may have that is not picked by a standard eye test. It is a long way, there is no straightforward solution and the improvement may only be partial, but at least you increase your chances to not remain stuck to a specific device / device setup in the long run.

Ananiujitha I've had an easier time with e-ink tablets

Have you tried e-ink monitors as well? I have never tested one because of the cost and the risk of dithering from the OS. What is your opinion? Thanks.

Ananiujitha

I've seen 9 different doctors including specialists; none could help.

I've tried using e-ink tablets as monitors, but they're too small, especially with apps designed around larger screens than these tablets, and around smaller font sizes than I can handle. and they're usually grayscale when too many apps are designed around color and can't distinguish important things without it.

In Thunderbird, for example, I end up with the headers taking up a gigantic part of the screen, and the actual email messages stuck in a corner.

AGI

Ananiujitha I've seen 9 different doctors including specialists; none could help.

I hear you. Pretty much the same thing here...

Ananiujitha I've tried using e-ink tablets as monitors

I am tempted to try a Dasung monitor. Maybe I will give it a go but my problem is that I will still have to use many other screens due to nature of my job. When my symptoms are triggered, they last several hours, sometimes days, so having a single good monitor is better than nothing but not really a fix.

EyeDiscomfortCertificate

I recommend to check all the possible panel manufacturers and panel types you can find. There is a very limited set of panel manufacturers:
1. IPS: BOE, AU Optronics, LG, Innolux, Sharp
2. VA: Innolux, AUO, Samsung.
3. TN: not sure
4. OLED: not sure

You need to test every possible panel type and manufacturer to find one that fits you best. No point to test different monitor models but with same panel.

Ananiujitha

If you mean travelling to an electronics store and testing there, it's hard to tell which monitors will trigger migraines, when the store lighting and noise already trigger one.

I am considering a low-end Eizo monitor since it has a lower price and better resolution than the rE, and can supposedly go down to 1 cd/m2.

JTL

Ananiujitha I am considering a low-end Eizo monitor since it has a lower price and better resolution than the rE, and can supposedly go down to 1 cd/m2.

I think EIZO reduces brightness below a certain point with high frequency PWM. Not saying it's going to be an issue but it certainly is something to be aware of.

EyeDiscomfortCertificate

Ananiujitha

EIZO is not a panacea, they use generic LG IPS panels. You need to check VA monitors too, they may (or may not) work better for you.

Ananiujitha

I know it's been some time.

The Eizo has been much better than my old Dell monitor. It hasn't solved all my problems. I'm still very sensitive to animmation, flashing animation, smooth animation, and too-small or too-thin fonts.

I haven't been able to test other monitors.

simplex

Ananiujitha

When you started to feel light sensitivity?

And which LED devices (incl lamps) you use and how long?