Illumination design based on brain science and cell physiology

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K21973
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 21:Electrical and electronic engineering and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Fujita Shizuo 京都大学, 工学研究科, 教授 (20135536)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 岩田 誠 高知工科大学, 情報学群, 教授 (60232683)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-06-28 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 発光ダイオード / 脳波測定 / アルファ波 / タンパク質 / 照明環境

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Lighting color design has traditionally been based on individual sensibilities such as "comfortable" and "calm". On the other hand, light stimulation influences on protein synthesis and brain activity through nerves; therefore it is expected that the effect of lighting can be discussed more deeply from the medical and physiological aspects by measuring brain activity with respect to the color of lighting. As the first step, from the viewpoint of "relaxation and sleep", in this research brain wave measurement and its analysis are performed using a narrow-band LED light sources, which has been pointed out in previous research as having a high cell physiology effect, in terms of the lighting color. Although the selection of experimental conditions has not yet been achieved, the results suggest that brain waves support a selection of a desirable color environment for relaxation and sleep under moderate lighting intensity.

Free Research Field

光デバイス工学、光応用工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

照明は感性を刺激するため、脳波測定等の脳科学を用いて照明環境を解析することは過去に例のない取り組みである。例えば「心地よい」、「落ち着く」という照明環境を脳科学をもとに客観的に理解できれば、感性に訴える照明環境を創り出すことができる。具体的には、睡眠やリラックスに適した部屋の照明、手術後に落ち着く病室の照明、不眠による俳諧を防ぐ高齢者施設の照明、などである。このように、照明を科学的な根拠で設計することで、ヒトがより過ごしやすい場の提供につなげられるという社会的意義がある。