Evaluation of stereoscopic picture quality with CFF.

The method of binocular stereoscopic imaging has attracted attention as a simple and technically feasible means of three-dimensional (3-D) display. It has been said, however, that the binocular picture system is more fatiguing to view than a conventional two-dimensional picture, much as the current television picture. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate quantitatively fatigue caused by binocular stereoscopic picture viewing, to clarify the basic characteristics of this type of picture. Various measurement methods of fatigue have been proposed, and that using the critical flicker frequency (CFF) has found wide use in measurement of mental fatigue and is easy to make. Actual measurement in this study used the CFF value obtained in a descending series of the method of limits, normalized to the value at the start of measurement for each observer, and the CFFs of all observers then averaged. It was found that the measurements produced stable and highly accurate results. CFFs of the observers of a current television picture and a binocular stereoscopic television picture were measured. It was found that the conventional television did not cause a statistically significant decrease in CFF--even over 1 h of viewing--but that the stereoscopic television did cause a significant CFF decrease within 30 min. It was also found that the CFF decreases are related to a subjective feeling of fatigue. From these results, it was concluded that CFF is an effective measure for objectively measuring the fatigue of television observers, including observers of binocular stereoscopic television. Also, the binocular stereoscopic television produced higher fatigue in observers than did the conventional television picture, but it was found that with respect to CFF viewing of around 30 min was allowable.