Measuring Facial Illuminance with Smartphones and Mobile Devices

Introduction: To uncover a relationship between light exposure and myopia is complicated because of the challenging nature of measuring visually relevant illumination experienced by children. Objective: To find a methodology to measure face illuminance using a mobile device. Methods: Accuracy and precision of the mobile device’s built-in ambient light sensor were tested under three different lighting conditions: full-field, a single small light, and one mimicking typical office illumination. Face illuminance was computed in six faces with different skin reflectances using pixel values in face images captured by the device camera placed at 30 cm in front of the face. The results were compared with those obtained with a commercial light meter situated at the face. Results: The illuminance measured by the device’s ambient light sensor showed high linearity (R2 > 0.99) slightly under-estimating or conversely over-estimating face illuminance with full-field or single light sources but accurate for office lighting. Face illuminance measured by the devices’ camera under indoor conditions using the new methodology showed a mean relative error of 27% and a high linearity (R2 > 0.94). Conclusions: Introduction of an app can be used to assess the association between visually relevant environmental light levels and myopia progression.