Characterizing the Flashing Television Images that Precipitate Seizures

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Publisher: SMPTE — White Plains, NY, USA
Doc Type: Journal Article
Content Type: Original Research
Abbreviated Title: SMPTE J
Volume: 111, No. 6-7, pp. 323–329
Abstract: Television is by nature a flickering medium. It is also designed to convey images that flash or flicker. This paper seeks to characterize the stimulus parameters of broadcast materials that have been responsible for triggering epileptic seizures. Three sources of evidence are considered: the characteristics of flicker and pattern predicted to induce seizures on the basis of clinical studies; the statistics of broadcast images; and the characteristics of video sequences that have been associated with anecdotal reports of seizures. The results of these studies have contributed to a revision, in mid-2001, of a Guidance Note issued by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) in the U.K. seeking to protect, so far as is reasonably practicable, the section of the population that is liable to photosensitive epilepsy.
Publication Date: 2002-07-01
DOI: 10.5594/J15330
ISSN: Print: 0036-1682
Link: https://doi.org/10.5594/J15330
Author(s): C. D. BinnieKings College, London, U.K.
bio
Colin David Binnie is a Past-President of the British Society for Clinical Neurophysiology and the author of over 500 publications on EEG and epilepsy. Currently he is a Professor of Clinical Neurophysiology, Guy's, King's and St. Thomas's School of Medicine and Dentistry; a Visiting Professor of Physiology, University College, London; an Honorary Consultant Clinical Neurophysiologist, King's Healthcare and South London.
J. EmmettBroadcast Project Research Ltd., U.K.
bio
John Robert Emmett. After gaining a Ph.D. at Durham University and founding the U.K. audio equipment manufacturers EMO Systems Ltd., Emmett joined the Engineering Dept. of Thames Television in London as the research laboratory supervisor. While there he worked on subjects as diverse as film archive formats and psychoa-coustics, along the way gaining six international patents as sole inventor, and jointly with Lee Lighting Ltd., being awarded a Technical Oscar for developing the flicker-free Lighting Ballast. He continued as R&D manager with Pearson Television, developing a series of contract research projects based at their production studio locations, and is currently building up Broadcast Project Research Ltd., a new independent studio-based research group.
P. GardinerIndependent Television Commission, U.K.
bio
Paul Gardiner is Head of Technical Standards and Information at the Independent Television Commission (ITC), the regulatory and licensing body for commercial television in the United Kingdom. Gardiner's principal responsibilities are in the areas of technical regulation and technical standards. Within the ITC he has previously led European collaborative research and development projects under the RACE and ACTS programs, and has been involved in the study and development of widescreen and interactive television systems. He has contributed to international standardization activities in the ITU-R and is a member of the EBU Broadcast Management Committee.
G. F. A. HardingAston University, U.K.
bio
Graham Harding is Professor of Clinical Neurophysiology and Director of the Neurosciences Institute, Aston University. He is author of the standard book on Photosensitive Epilepsy based on the largest study ever undertaken. In 1993 he was closely involved with the ITC in the drafting of the original ITC guidelines on PSE and, at the request of the Japanese Government, assisted in drafting the Japanese guidelines following the Pokemon incident of 1997. He is the consultant on flashing images to the Broadcast Advertisers Clearing Centre and on Photosensitive Epilepsy to the British Epilepsy Association.
D. HarrisonIndependent Television Commission, U.K.
bio
David Harrison received B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Leeds, England, in 1981 and 1988, respectively. After working for Marconi Electronic Devices and Technophone as a microwave frequency engineer he joined Thomson multimedia in France. At the company's Communication Media Laboratory, he managed a wide range of research and development projects relating to consumer equipment for digital satellite, cable, MMDS, and terrestrial TV broadcast services. Harrison is now deputy director of Technology and head of New Media studies at the ITC. He is the author of a large number of technical papers on digital television and is the holder of 15 patents.
A. J. WilkinsUniversity of Essex, U.K.
bio
Arnold Jonathan Wilkins obtained a doctorate from Sussex University, England, for work on human memory. He then spent two years at the Montreal Neurological Institute (1972–1974) where his research interest in epilepsy began. He was a scientist at the Medical Research Council Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge, England, from 1974 until 1997 where he developed a theory of visual stress. He is now head of the Visual Perception Unit at the University of Essex, England.
Copyright: © 2002 Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Inc.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

1. Harding G.F.A. , “TV Can be Bad for Your Health,” Nature Medicine , 4 : 265 – 267 , 1998 . EXTERNAL
10. Binnie C. D. Estevez O. Trenite D.G.A. Kasteleijn-Nolst Peters A. , “Colour and Photosensitive Epilepsy,” Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology , 58 : 387 – 391 , 1984 . EXTERNAL
11. Guidance Note for Licensees on Flashing Images and Regular Patterns in Television, 2001 . ITC, www.itc.org.uk . EXTERNAL
2. Jeavons P. M. Harding G.F.A. , Photosensitive Epilepsy: A Review of the Literature and a Study of 460 Patients , Heinemann : London , 1975 . EXTERNAL
3. Kasteleijn-Nolst D. G. A. Trenite , “Photosensitivity in Epilepsy: Electro-physiological and Clinical Correlates,” Proefschrift aan de Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht , Netherlands, 1989 . EXTERNAL
4. Harding G.F.A. Fylan F. , “Two Visual Mechanisms of Photosensitivity,” Epilepsia , 40 : 1446 – 1451 , 1999 . EXTERNAL
5. Wilkins A. J. , Visual Stress , Oxford Univ. Press , p. 194 , 1995 . EXTERNAL
6. Wilkins A. J. Binnie C. D. Darby C. E. , “Visually-induced Seizures,” Progress in Neurobiology , 15 : 85 – 117 , 1984 . EXTERNAL
7. Wilkins A. J. Darby C. E. Binnie C. D. , “Neurophysiological Aspects of Pattern-sensitive Epilepsy,” Brain , 102 : 1 – 25 , 1979 . EXTERNAL
8. Drasdo N. , “The Neural Representation of Visual Space,” Nature , 266 : 554 – 556 , 1977 . EXTERNAL
9. Harding G.F.A. Jeavons P. M. , Photosensitive Epilepsy , Mac Keith Press : London , 1994 . EXTERNAL

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C. D. Binnie, J. Emmett, P. Gardiner, G. F. A. Harding, D. Harrison, and A. J. Wilkins; Characterizing the Flashing Television Images that Precipitate Seizures, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 111, Issue: 6-7, 2002); SMPTE, 2002. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/J15330

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C. D. Binnie, J. Emmett, P. Gardiner, G. F. A. Harding, D. Harrison, and A. J. Wilkins; Characterizing the Flashing Television Images that Precipitate Seizures, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 111, Issue: 6-7, 2002); SMPTE, 2002. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/J15330

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<span class="citation">C. D. Binnie, J. Emmett, P. Gardiner, G. F. A. Harding, D. Harrison, and A. J. Wilkins; <cite>Characterizing the Flashing Television Images that Precipitate Seizures</cite>, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 111, Issue: 6-7, 2002); SMPTE, 2002. Available at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5594/J15330" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.5594/J15330</a></span>

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C. D. Binnie, J. Emmett, P. Gardiner, G. F. A. Harding, D. Harrison, and A. J. Wilkins; <cite id="bib-10-5594-j15330">Characterizing the Flashing Television Images that Precipitate Seizures</cite>, SMPTE Journal ( Volume: 111, Issue: 6-7, 2002); SMPTE, 2002
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