NewScITech

Chris Kwak, a 31-year-old financial analyst, spends hours a day glued to the tiny screen of his Palm Treo hand-held computer. He fires off e-mails, checks stock prices and recently plowed through the novel “The Da Vinci Code.”

But staring at the 2-inch screen is taking its toll on Kwak’s eyes: He regularly pops Tylenol to dull the headaches he gets from focusing on the tiny font he has chosen for his device.

“It definitely hurts,” said Kwak on a recent afternoon, as he stood outside his Wall Street office, reading messages in the glaring sun.

As use of portable hand-held gadgets soars, Americans are becoming a nation of squinters who spend hours hunched over gadgets such as PDAs, cell phones, game devices and iPods, straining to read small text everywhere from dimly lighted restaurants to sunny park benches. With mobile technology growing increasingly sophisticated — allowing people to surf the Web, build PowerPoint presentations and watch “The Daily Show” on screens barely larger than a postage stamp — many users say they are experiencing eyestrain.

For decades, optometrists have recognized that spending long hours in front of a desktop computer can lead to a range of eye-related problems, including headaches, burning sensations and temporarily blurred vision. Now, hand-helds are triggering a fresh round of complaints. Many of the factors known to cause eyestrain on larger computers — such as low-contrast screens and fonts smaller than 11 points — are especially common on mobile devices. Moreover, to conserve battery life, hand-helds usually have dimmer displays than do desktop computers.

Some opticians say the tiny fonts on the gadgets are leading a wave of younger people to seek reading glasses. Most people start noticing age-related vision declines around age 40, as the eye’s internal lens loses elasticity. While no one is suggesting that the small screens are causing people’s vision to deteriorate faster, some opticians say the small type on portable gadgets is making people aware of minor vision shortcomings at younger ages.

“I have 30-year-olds coming in for reading glasses so they can focus on their BlackBerry,” says Alli Rossi, an optician in Los Angeles.

Helena Bell, a 24-year-old graduate student in Carbondale, Ill., says that even scrolling through an iPod song menu makes her eyes feel sore.

“They keep trying to cram all this technology from a desktop computer into these teensy, itsy-bitsy devices,” says Bell, who abandoned her Palm hand-held after just a few months of use because the small font was straining her eyes.

To address vision concerns, technology companies are studying the science of “readability” — and looking for ways to make hand-held computing easier on the eyes. Microsoft Corp. has adapted a line of fonts specifically for hand-held screens, such as “Frutiger Linotype,” which features simple, open letters with lots of white space so the typeface does not look cramped. This font has been used in some PocketPC software. Microsoft has also developed a technology called ClearType, which helps smooth the jagged edges of letters on the screen and increases the sharpness of text displays. Motorola Inc.’s newest line of hand-held devices, available later this year, will give users the option to enlarge the type size.

Other companies, including Sony Corp. are looking for ways to make reading off the small screen more like reading from paper. Most hand-helds have liquid crystal display (LCD) screens, containing hundreds of pixels that are lit from behind. That means users are looking directly into a light source. To eliminate the glare this creates, Sony’s new electronic-book device — the Sony Reader — does not have an LCD screen or any internal light source. Instead, the high-contrast screen relies on reflective light, just the way a piece of paper does. That means it can be viewed at any angle and does not get washed out in direct sunlight. Unlike a regular hand-held, it cannot be read in the dark because there is no internal light.

Many gadget makers, including Palm Inc., offer “transflective” screens that have a backlight for low-light situations but also have the capacity to reflect natural light. Also, the glass displays on Palm hand-helds are treated with special polarized films that bend light in ways that allow users to see the screen clearly from many angles.

The screen resolution on hand-helds has also improved over the past several years, making it easier for companies to render fonts and images clearly on the small screens.

Eyestrain is triggered by a variety of causes. Research shows that people tend to blink less when they look at a computer screen, leading to dry, irritated eyes after long periods. The pixilated letters on computer screens, which have jagged edges not readily noticeable to the eye, tend to cause more strain than the smoother letters on a printed page, according to James E. Sheedy, director of the Vision Ergonomics Laboratory at the Ohio State University College of Optometry.

Another problem is that computer and hand-held users are focusing on a nearby object for hours at a time, taxing the muscles inside the eyes. The eye muscles are in their most relaxed state when you stare off into the distance. But when the eyes need to focus up-close, the ciliary muscles work to change the shape of the eye’s internal lens. When you focus up-close for a long time, these muscles get tired. For some people, this leads to temporarily blurred vision, which typically goes away overnight and does not cause permanent damage.

“Our eyes were not designed for the visual demands of 21st-century America,” says Andrea P. Thau, an associate clinical professor at SUNY State College of Optometry and spokeswoman for the American Optometric Association. The constant need to focus up-close is putting unprecedented strain on the eyes.

Electronics makers say that while eyestrain is a concern, they have to balance readability with the other features consumers demand.

“Our research shows that people are willing to make trade-offs,” says Doug Walston, director of user interface design for Motorola mobile devices. “Everyone would like larger fonts. But they also want to be able to read an entire sentence in one line.”

And while people complain about dim screens, they also want a long battery life.

“We can’t have incredibly bright display, because we might sacrifice battery life,” says Greg Shirai, vice president of product marketing at Palm, who also notes that screens have gotten brighter as technology has improved.

Hand-helds may have some advantages over larger screens when it comes to eyestrain. People are more likely to move hand-held computers around as they use them, so the eye muscles are not locked into focusing at the same distance for hours. In addition, people tend to use hand-helds for shorter periods of time, says Jeffrey Anshel, founder of Corporate Vision Consulting, a visual-ergonomics firm in Encinitas, Calif.

The best remedy for hand-held-related eyestrain is to take frequent breaks, and avoid using the gadgets for long periods. Elise Brisco, an optometrist in Los Angeles, recommends looking away from the screen and into the distance for about 20 seconds every 20 minutes to give the eyes a rest. She also recommends holding the devices slightly farther away, which means the eyes will not have to work as hard to focus. High-contrast screens also reduce strain. The most comfortable screens feature black letters on a white background, according to experts.

But many consumers say eyestrain is a fair trade-off for the convenience of mobile computing.

“Who wants to carry a book around?” asks Kwak, who recently downloaded the epic poem “Beowulf” to read on his Treo.

Taken from BaltimoreSun