Glare Evaluations in Day-Lit Indoor Spaces: A Review of Assessment Methods and Their Robustness

No doubt, objective (including computational and simulation) methods have been known to provide reliable mechanisms for glare evaluations in day lit spaces. Objective metrics have also been found to ensure that assessment processes produce accurate results, promote sound collaboration with other indices, increase computational efficiencies, et cetera for glare evaluations in indoor spaces. On the other hand, subjective methods have provided means by which the real life glare sensation of day-lit indoor spaces can be measured. Subjective methods allow occupants to express their preferences and satisfaction with the visual environment. Selecting between using objective methods to establish the exact glare acuity of spaces or using human subjects where personal biases could influence study outcomes can be difficult choice to make. This research reviewed 24 papers in order to identify the existing methods that are used in glare evaluations. Through systematic analysis, the study discovered that 50% of the papers reviewed utilized objective glare evaluation methods, 29% used computational and simulation methods while 21% employed the use of subjective methods. The research also found out that the number of studies that use electronic gadgets (objective tools) for glare evaluations is growing but needed to be supplemented with subjective assessments. The study concludes that robust glare evaluation metric should combine subjective and objective (computational or simulation) methods. The paper recommends further studies on metrics that use hybrid methods (combination of both objective and subjective methods) for glare evaluations.