Visual Stress, Visual Comfort & Workplace Performance
Reflections by Andrew Keyes, BSc(Hons) MCOptom. Sept 2026
What we already know from research
Migraine affects productivity
Visual sensitivity varies significantly between individuals
Precision Tinted Lenses (PTLs) can improve visual comfort and performance in specific visual tasks in selected individuals experiencing visual stress
What we have observed clinically
Patients often report improved comfort, better focus and improved endurance
Reduction in migraine, headache and eyestrain in selected individuals
Visual stress is a common perceptual experience typically consisting of some or all of the following:
visual distortions / reduced visual stability / visual or ocular discomfort / migraine / headache
Taken together, the research findings and our experience with patients for over 20 years, lead us to believe that visual stress may be impacting organisations through reduced employee wellbeing and reduced productivity.
Visual stress arises in susceptible individuals in response to repetitive patterns (particularly those around 3 cycles per degree, including text, especially of certain fonts), glare, certain lighting (especially those with characteristics that include non-visible flicker) and highly contrasting images. There is an increased prevalence of these features in the modern visual diet, not least because of increasing screen use and the widespread use of LED lighting.
There is very little in the way of highly contrasting repetitive pattern or flicker occurring in nature. Our modern visual world is becoming increasingly unlike the natural visual world that our brains seem to have evolved to process, leading to the hypothesis that the processing of these components of our visual world is inefficient (read the frontiersin.org article )
Many people can manage the modern visual world well, but clinical experience suggests some individuals may experience reduced visual efficiency without recognising it and without ever realising that their visual experience differs from those around them.
Screen use, digital displays and modern lighting can contribute to visual discomfort and visual stress in susceptible individuals.
Research suggests that in some susceptible individuals, visual discomfort and inefficiency can be associated with increased responsiveness (hyperexcitability) of the visual cortex, measurable through fMRI neuroimaging. Studies have also reported a reduction in cortical hyperexcitability with individually prescribed PTLs using a lens prescribing system with over 7000 different shades. (read the sciencedirect.com article)
At VTC we find that people need help to identify components of their visual experience of the world that are uncomfortable.
We have developed a visual discomfort profiling tool to help individuals recognise symptoms and visual experiences that may indicate an assessment would be beneficial.
Try our Symptom checker
Areas where we find individually prescribed PTLs can bring improvement for an individual include:
- Concentration
- Visual fatigue
- Visual task efficiency
- Reading speed
- Migraine
- Attention during visually demanding tasks
Susceptibility – including migraine, neurodivergence and neurological conditions
Research and clinical experience indicate that visual hypersensitivity is particularly common amongst individuals with migraine as well as neurodivergent individuals, including ADHD, autism and dyslexia. Recent evidence indicates that visual hypersensitivity occurs across different conditions, spanning neurodivergence, neurology and mental health conditions. (see the sciencedirect article)
Opportunities to understand and make an impact at an organisational level
The impact of addressing visual processing efficiency across an organisation remains largely unexplored, representing an opportunity for pioneering companies to stand out. There are opportunities to collaborate with experienced University researchers alongside VTC.
A proactive, top-down approach - consisting of organisation-wide screening, assessment, and provision of PTLs for those who benefit - may enable organisations to reduce risk of error and fatigue at work, improve efficiency, reduce loss due to absence and presenteeism and enhance employee wellbeing.
Detailed workplace-level outcome measures have, to our knowledge, yet to be formally reported on, giving an opportunity for not just individual benefit, but also a chance to understand the impact of improved visual comfort at an organisational level. As we gain valuable understanding of the impact of the interface between the human visual system and modern visual workplace, we hope this understanding can inform future approaches to workplace wellbeing and performance.
Evidence for improvements in visual performance with PTLs
Published consensus criteria for visual stress include an improvement in reading speed of more than 15% with colour, alongside other clinical considerations. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27890547/. However, our experience at VTC is that reduced reading speed alone as a measure of the effects of unmanaged visual stress often under-represents the benefit of PTLs.
This study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32282067/ consisted of individuals prone to cortical hyperexcitability - a group of migraine sufferers who found vision more comfortable with PTLs. It looked at their visual performance when they weren’t experiencing migraine.
A word search task showed an average increase in search speed of 45.7% when wearing PTLs, even when those individuals were not experiencing the symptoms of migraine – that is, they were not symptomatic at the time of the research task. We believe this illustrates the potential for improvements in visual performance beyond those reflected by reading speed alone.
The impact of migraine on productivity
Migraine is the main cause of lost work due to disability in the workforce under 50 years of age and has a significant impact on productivity in the workplace (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33882816/)
Whilst people with migraine are estimated to lose 2–7 days of work per year due to migraine, most (89%) loss of productivity occurs from presenteeism - those who make it into work but with impaired function. 53% of people with frequent migraine report difficulty concentrating at work. (see the Lancaster University study)
An individual during an attack has been shown to be operating at less than half normal effectiveness
(Migraine in the workplace Begasse de Dhaem O, Sakai F. Sci, 2022 Jun 6;27:100408 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35774055/)
A subset of these individuals may benefit from the VTC approach with PTLs through improvements in visual comfort, visual processing and migraine symptoms
Read our case studies www.visionthroughcolour.co.uk/case-studies/amars-story/ and
https://www.visionthroughcolour.co.uk/case-studies/read-angies-story/
A potential opportunity to improve employee wellbeing and inclusion whilst exploring potential productivity gains.
Currently, as a condition, visual stress is not well known about, nor is its association with migraine. As a result, it is often not considered when an individual is seeking help for eyestrain, headache or difficulty with visual tasks.
Our clinical experience suggests that a proportion of affected individuals are unaware of their difficulties - perhaps because, as an individual perceptual experience, they have nothing with which to compare their experience of the world. We find that individuals may be inclined not to realise that their discomfort or distortion isn’t normal and so don’t think to seek help.
For those with neurodivergent traits or a neurodivergent diagnosis, visual sensory sensitivity, along with other sensory overwhelm, may just be accepted as part of their neurodivergent experience of the world, without an awareness that PTLs may help.
Our experience at Vision Through Colour is that an individual who isn’t seeing as comfortably as they could be is often unaware of this. They are often unaware that light or pattern is a trigger for their migraine until things are improved with PTLs.
The Vision Through Colour approach
A June 2026 international review paper https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5150/10/2/34 summarises the most recent understanding of visual discomfort and visual stress, with an overview of the people who are most susceptible to it and the way that it can be managed to improve visual performance. As co-authors of this paper, Andrew Keyes and Katherine Batey of VTC are delighted that the world-leading researchers in this area have come together to form a working group, recognising VTC's contribution and inviting them to participate as two of only three patient-facing members of the working group.
The review has achieved high interest, forming a springboard to increased awareness. The following news story became the University of Stirling’s most viewed research news story ever "Looks good, feels bad? Stirling-led review explains why modern design can strain your brain | About | University of Stirling"
Andrew and Katherine’s involvement is outlined here.
Real life results & anecdotal feedback
At VTC we are finding that patients who benefit from PTLs often report:
- Improved visual comfort
- Improved visual processing
- Improved concentration during visually demanding tasks
- Greater endurance when working at screens
- Reduced effects of artificial lighting, glare and flicker
Many individuals report that they had been unaware they were working harder than necessary until their visual efficiency improved.
Broader implications for HR
Eyestrain has also been associated with wider physical effects with musco-skeletal problems (trapezius and upper back difficulties) being reported 2–3 times more commonly in those with eyestrain. (for more information see https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-96-8904-0_80)
Could your organisation benefit from a different approach to visual wellbeing?
Contact Andrew Keyes at Vision Through Colour for an initial, no-obligation discussion about employee visual discomfort, assessment opportunities and potential research collaboration.
info@visionthroughcolour.co.uk
