Predicting Flicker Thresholds for Video Display Terminals

This paper describes an analytical method for predicting whether a video display terminal will appear to flicker given the screen phosphor persistence, refresh frequencies, and other environmental factors such as ambient light level, the distance between the viewer and the display, etc. From the method, one can predict the maximum screen luminance and the minimum refresh frequency that will generate a flicker-free display for a theoretical standard observer. These predictions are tested across a wide range of refresh frequencies, screen luminances, screen phosphors, and individual users.