DanAyers
Active Member
So, For anyone who doesn’t know, I hold a Master’s degree in Occupational Safety Management; which goes well with my Bachelors in Technical Theater and 20 years working in the industry.
One of my professors from the safety program reached out to me this morning, after attending Trans Siberian Orchestra in Kansas City last night she experienced flicker vertigo from the lights moving and flickering too fast during the performance. I’m not terribly familiar with flicker vertigo, and I learned a few things about it from her today but I’m curious if people here are more knowledgeable than me and if it could spark a good discussion about what it is, and what LD’s need to look out for to prevent it. Personally, I’d like to understand it better, so I would love to hear stories, and any information anyone wants to share.
I guess to start here’s a definition:
Flicker vertigo, sometimes called the Bucha effect, is "an imbalance in brain-cell activity caused by exposure to low-frequency flickering (or flashing) of a relatively bright light."[1] It is a disorientation-, vertigo-, and nausea-inducing effect of a strobe light flashing at 1 Hz to 20 Hz, approximately the frequency of human brainwaves.[2][3] The effects are similar to seizures caused by epilepsy (in particular photosensitive epilepsy), but are not restricted to people with histories of epilepsy.
This phenomenon has been observed during helicopter flight; a Dr. Bucha identified the phenomenon in the 1950s when called upon to investigate a series of similar and unexplained helicopter crashes. Flicker vertigo in a helicopter occurs when the pilot or front passenger looks up through the blades of the main rotor as it turns in the sun causing the light to strobe.
So what stories do you have?
Thanks
Dan
One of my professors from the safety program reached out to me this morning, after attending Trans Siberian Orchestra in Kansas City last night she experienced flicker vertigo from the lights moving and flickering too fast during the performance. I’m not terribly familiar with flicker vertigo, and I learned a few things about it from her today but I’m curious if people here are more knowledgeable than me and if it could spark a good discussion about what it is, and what LD’s need to look out for to prevent it. Personally, I’d like to understand it better, so I would love to hear stories, and any information anyone wants to share.
I guess to start here’s a definition:
Flicker vertigo - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
Flicker vertigo, sometimes called the Bucha effect, is "an imbalance in brain-cell activity caused by exposure to low-frequency flickering (or flashing) of a relatively bright light."[1] It is a disorientation-, vertigo-, and nausea-inducing effect of a strobe light flashing at 1 Hz to 20 Hz, approximately the frequency of human brainwaves.[2][3] The effects are similar to seizures caused by epilepsy (in particular photosensitive epilepsy), but are not restricted to people with histories of epilepsy.
This phenomenon has been observed during helicopter flight; a Dr. Bucha identified the phenomenon in the 1950s when called upon to investigate a series of similar and unexplained helicopter crashes. Flicker vertigo in a helicopter occurs when the pilot or front passenger looks up through the blades of the main rotor as it turns in the sun causing the light to strobe.
So what stories do you have?
Thanks
Dan