Influence of Monitor Luminance Change on Observer Performance for Detection of Abnormalities Depicted on Chest Radiographs

Abstract

The luminance change in CRT monitor display under long-term usage will have a detrimental effect on nodule detection performance in chest radiograph images.

Effects of monitor luminance change on observer detection performance

“…However, in our previous study, for all observers, the observation order of the images with the change in display luminance was always either from the darkest display condition to the brightest, or the reverse, and each result of this study was biased [8]. To confirm the results of our previous study, further study with an experimental design using a random observation order for images of varying display luminance is needed [8].…”

“…In addition, we showed that the mean of the threshold monitor conditions at the exact luminance at which any one of the artificial nodules visible in the CRT display condition at the standard grid voltage became just undetectable by experienced chest radiologists in the process of decreasing the CRT grid voltage was almost the same as this threshold luminance condition, indicated as the ratio of the maximum luminance of the monitor condition to that of the CRT display condition with the standard grid voltage [8].…”

“…The quality of an image displayed on a cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor is influenced by various factors [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8].…”

“…Because the luminance of a CRT monitor will be lower and lower as time passes due to age-related deterioration [2,4,6,8], the luminance of a CRT monitor will be one of the most common image quality problems.…”

“…In our previous report, we investigated how changes in luminance affected the detection performance of nodules on chest radiograph images on high-resolution CRT monitors [8], and reported that, in the conditions in which the maximum luminance of the CRT was 60.7% or below that of the standard display luminance, the number of correctly detected nodules deteriorated reliably [8]. In addition, we showed that the mean of the threshold monitor conditions at the exact luminance at which any one of the artificial nodules visible in the CRT display condition at the standard grid voltage became just undetectable by experienced chest radiologists in the process of decreasing the CRT grid voltage was almost the same as this threshold luminance condition, indicated as the ratio of the maximum luminance of the monitor condition to that of the CRT display condition with the standard grid voltage [8].…”