The BenQ Board is the first interactive display for education to be Eyesafe^® Certified. This means that our smart boards help protect students and teachers against high-energy blue light. But what does this mean exactly, and why has blue light become a concern for schools?

First and foremost, we need to establish that not all blue light is bad. In fact, blue light is known to boost alertness and elevate mood, especially when you’re exposed to natural sources like early morning sunlight.¹ However, doctors are concerned about blue light from digital devices due to the close proximity between device screens and our eyes, the lengthy duration of device use, and the potential cumulative risks of daily exposure.

Blue light, particularly high-energy blue light, is part of the visible light spectrum. It has a distinct wavelength that our lenses are unable to filter out.² Because of this, more blue light can pass through and go straight into our retina, the part of our eyes that is responsible for sending visual signals to our brain.³

There is research suggesting that prolonged exposure to blue light can contribute to visual fatigue, dry eyes, decreased visual acuity (our ability to clearly distinguish shapes from a distance⁶) and suppressed melatonin production, which can lead to poor sleep and concentration.^7,8,9 For students, especially younger children who are more susceptible to blue light,^10,11 these effects may become detrimental to their performance in classrooms.

In the long term, continuous exposure to blue light may also negatively affect the macula,¹² the small portion of the retina in charge of visual acuity and color perception.¹³

Many devices used in schools do not have blue light protection built into the hardware so students are exposed to a constant source of blue light. To help mitigate this issue, display manufacturers resort to using software solutions. Among the most utilized is the blue light filter, which is a setting that visibly alters the colors shown on screen to cancel out blue light emissions.¹⁴ It goes by different names, varying from brand to brand. For example, Windows devices have “Night Light”, while Apple has “Night Shift”. Earlier models of the BenQ Board use the same technology.

With the latest generations of the BenQ Board, beginning with the RP03, we retired this software setting and instead upgraded our blue light protection measures by fitting our smart boards with Eyesafe Certified screens. BenQ is the first to offer Eyesafe Certified interactive display solutions to schools.

Related: TÜV Rheinland Awards the BenQ Board Pro with Eyesafe^® Display Certification

Eyesafe is a global leader in blue light management, including technology, certification, and accessory solutions. With an expansive portfolio of intellectual property, the company employs a world-class team of eye doctors,  engineers, and scientists. The company collaborates with the medical and scientific communities to develop health-based standards for the consumer electronics industry, which are reflected in the Eyesafe Certification program. 

The company is advised by a board of world-renowned ophthalmologists and optometrists, called the Eyesafe Vision Health Advisory Board. In addition to advising Eyesafe on industry standards, it focuses on public health advocacy and decoding health-based research on blue light.

Display solutions providers who are serious about protecting their users from exposure to high-energy blue light partner with Eyesafe for product development, testing, and certification.

As previously mentioned, many applications are able to reduce blue light by altering the screen’s colors. Since yellow is known to absorb blue light,¹⁵ enabling the software setting often results in a yellow or amber-tinted screen. Although effective at reducing blue light, the change is not only distracting, but it also sacrifices color accuracy.

Unlike these software-based solutions, Eyesafe Certified screens have blue light mitigation hardware for always-on protection. This eliminates the need for additional applications. Users of Eyesafe Certified devices get blue light protection without affecting the vibrant colors shown on their display.

Since its release in 2019, the Eyesafe^® Display Requirements 1.0 was considered the industry benchmark for low blue light emissions. Early adopters of Eyesafe technology underwent thorough testing for several requirements including blue light ratio, blue light toxicity factor (BLTF), and color gamut coverage. Eyesafe experts relied on TÜV Rheinland, a global leader in independent third-party certification, to conduct the evaluation and testing based on specific sets of criteria developed in consultation with the Eyesafe Vision Health Advisory Board.

But over the past three years, as newer research and technological advancements became available, Eyesafe deemed it necessary to refine the certification requirements by focusing more on blue light toxicity factor. As a result, Eyesafe and TÜV Rheinland released the Eyesafe^® Display Requirements 2.0. With these requirements also came a new metric called Radiance Protection Factor (RPF^®), which gives users a simpler way to identify and compare devices and their respective blue light emissions.

Eyesafe calculates blue light toxicity by using a complex formula based on the current technological limits of recent LCD and OLED technologies. The new RPF rating system makes this computation easier to understand by assigning each display an RPF number (ranging from 1 to 100) that reflects their blue light toxicity.

Similar to how Sun Protection Factor (SPF) measures protection for the skin, the RPF scale measures blue light emissions and potential risk for the eyes. The higher the number, the better, as higher RPF numbers indicate a greater reduction of high-energy blue light in a display.

Related: BenQ Board Pro and Master Awarded Eyesafe^® Certification 2.0

The fourth-generation BenQ Boards, the RP04 and RM04, are both Eyesafe Certified 2.0 and rated RPF50 and RPF35, respectively. This ensures that students and teachers using the BenQ Board are protected against high-energy blue light.

Together, Eyesafe and BenQ aim to make classrooms eye safe. To learn more about our Eyesafe Certified screens and other BenQ eye care technologies, visit our ClassroomCare^® page.