Nonvisual Effects of Led Coloured Ambient Lighting on Well-Being and Cardiac Reactivity: Preliminary Findings

This study examined the immediate nonvisual effects of ambient lighting colours and illuminance on momentary wellbeing and physiology during daytime. As reported in recent literature, the effects of lighting extend beyond comfort and safety issues. Illuminance level and ambient colours appear to have differing effects on perception and to some degree on physiological parameters. In the present study, LED lighting was used in a mock-up office to expose 37 participants to two levels of illuminance, being 45 lx and 195 lx on the eye, and four ambient colour combinations, being Red-Green, Red-Blue, Green-Blue, Red-Green-Blue. Overall, the results showed interactions between lighting condition and illuminance levels on the currently investigated subjective and objective parameters. The expected arousing impact of colour combinations with a blue component was only partially observed in the current study. The results may have implications for future office design in which coloured lighting takes a central role.