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WHAT IS VISUAL STRESS?
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Quick Links
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There is growing evidence that some people with apparently normal eyesight, experience discomfort when reading a page of print.
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Others report that the words appear to wobble of flicker.
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For others the page simply looks too bright or the words look too close together. Whatever the exact perception, the result is discomfort which often leads to reduced reading speed, eye strain and headaches or migraines. This condition has become known as Visual Stress.
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What are the symptoms?
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- Movement of print
- vibration, shifting side to side or up and down
- words breaking up; words joining up
- letters muddling
- three dimensional movement
- movement of surrounding words
- movement of words at the beginning and end of lines
- words "falling off" the page
- blurring of print - closely spaced small high contrast black on white print causes most problems.
- Letters changing size
- Doubling of letters, extra letters appearing at the end of words.
- Letters fading or becoming darker.
- Patterns appearing either in dark print or white spaces. Sometimes described as "worms", "rivers", or "waterfalls"
- Illusions of colour: blobs of colour moving across the page, distracting the reader or obscuring words completely, or highlights of colour around letters or words
- Tiredness
- Nausea
- Dizziness
- Discomfort or headache
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What are the signs?
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Those with visual stress may:-
- move close to or away from the page and frequently change position
- frequently look away from the page
- skip words and lines
- lose their place and sometimes use their finger
- rub their eyes frequently
- blink excessively or flutter the eyelids
- show reluctance to read and write
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How does colour work? doe
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Olive Meares, a school teacher from New Zealand was one of the first to describe the symptoms and signs of visual stress among school children in her class.
Helen Irlen, a psychologist from California, first explored the benefit of coloured filters as treatment for these distortions. She referred to the symptoms and signs as Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome (SSS), and later as Irlen syndrome. The term Meares–Irlen syndrome was introduced to give credit to both the pioneers.
Although the exact physiological mechanisms that cause Visual Stress are still poorly understood, there is growing scientific evidence to support the use of coloured filters to alleviate the symptoms.
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How common is Visual Stress?
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All of us suffer from Visual Stress to some degree when viewing certain patterns. However, it seems that some individuals are more susceptible than others.
Research has shown that approximately one person in every five shows some benefit from coloured filters, and the benefit is substantial in one person in every twenty.
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