Contrast improvement in pre-compensation of ocular aberrations for computer users

Ocular aberrations in the human eye prevent many users from interacting efficiently with Graphic User Interfaces in computers. While traditionally these aberrations are corrected by external means (e.g., spectacles, refractive surgery), there have been approaches to address them by custom pre-compensation of the displayed images, based on the characterization of the eye’s aberrations. However, the limited intensity levels of display devices reduce the contrast perceived by the user when viewing the pre-compensated images. This paper proposes a histogram side-trim correction method for the pre-compensated images that seeks to reduce the contrast loss perceived by the viewer. The proposed histogram trimming process is designed to be automatic, not requiring manual intervention. Experiments are performed using a high-resolution camera as an “artificial eye”, to evaluate the efficiency of the histogram side-trim method in improving the contrast of perceived images. Results show that the side-trim method improved the contrast of images perceived by the “artificial eye”.