Evaluating Conformance of Video Safety Tools for Photosensitive Epilepsy

People with photosensitive epilepsy (PSE) may have seizures caused by flashing lights, particular video sequences, and bold standing patterns. To reduce the risk from video and other content, five international guidelines have been created that outline the characteristics of flashing that can cause harm when taken together: large areas, intense changes, and a range of flash rates. Automated tools can evaluate video sequences according to these standards. However, there are few reference videos available to validate and compare such automated PSE tools. Furthermore, the test videos that have been reported to date do not thoroughly test PSE algorithms' adherence to standards. This article describes some of the gaps in current testing paradigms and proposes additional validation tests for PSE hazard analysis tools. We have also created a new tool that can be used to generate ground-truth video sequences for validating and comparing PSE safety algorithms. This tool can create videos that extend beyond the simple alternating-frames test videos typically used to date. Additionally, more complicated test videos can be generated to test more nuanced characteristics of the standards or to test algorithms' susceptibility to confounding-but-harmless flashing.