Reduce Glare in Your Room

Understanding Glare and Tips to Control It

What is Glare?

Understanding this in technical terms will cause much confusion. So why don’t we understand it in simple terms?

Glare can be defined as “Too much light to see things clearly”. When the excessive contrast is excessively present in any field of view, it is termed as the glare of light.

Whenever the architectural map of any building is designed, it is ensured that the appropriate amount of light enters the building after construction is completed. With that amount of light, the glare should also be limited.

Generally, the presence of glare in light is harmful to the human eye but it is also used on some occasions to enhance the excitement. The spotlight used to focus the audience on a live concert is a perfect example of it. Using extreme contrast to intensif the visuyal appearance in some circus shows is also another example.

How it affects us?

Glare control in very much required for every indoor location. Human eye’s visual range in terms of glare is very amazing. The eye can perceive from as low glare as starlight to a sunny day. This makes the range .01 lux to 1,00,000 lux (lux is the unit of luminance of a visual scene). The eye takes some time to adapt to be able to see a part of this range. When we enter a low room with low brightness, our eyes take few moments to be able to see things. The same process applies when we go out in direct daylight from a less bright space. Our susceptibility to glare depends on the time of adaptation.

How can we reduce glare?

If our eyes are unable to focus on a certain view due to the presence of a light source, the glare is present in the light in more amount than required. It should be controlled by various methods few of which are given below –

  • Switch to LED Lights

Traditional light bulbs are not up to the mark for reduced glare. LED bulbs are coated with the aluminum heat sink which reduces glare and allows us to see clearly without causing strain to eyes. You can also select the bulb on the basis of its color temperature. The lower the color temperature the reduced amount of the glare will be.

  • Install Dimmers

One of the easiest ways to control excessive glare is installing dimmers. The dimmers can control the brightness output and hence reduce the glare to the desired amount. Use dimmable light bulbs only to take control over the brightness using dimmers.

  • Avoid harsh-glare surfaces

To reduce the glare in your room, avoid the harsh-glare surfaces such as tile, enamel etc. Use softer glare surfaces instead i.e. carpets, wallpaper etc. This way there will not be enough reflective surfaces and the glare will be reduced to a certain level.

  • Make room for Sunlight

The presence of sunlight in a room doesn’t cause glare. It provides relaxing illumination.

  • Go Smart

Switching to smart lighting is most reliable and advanced option for taking overall control of light. You can have excellent control not only on glare but also on the colors.

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