A Survey of Factors Affecting Physical Discomfort at a Computer Workstation

A Survey of Factors Affecting Physical Discomfort at a Computer Workstation

Tung Lai Lai, Kyung Kyu Kim, Ang Kah Eng, Neo Aik Keong, Pang Soh Chui
Copyright: © 1998 |Pages: 11
DOI: 10.4018/joeuc.1998070102
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Abstract

As the use of computers in this society accelerates, the need to design an effective human-computer interaction(HCI) becomes more important. However, prior research in HCI has investigated human factors and computer systems in isolation without considering the interrelationships between the two. This study attempts to bridge the two fields of studies by looking into the various factors that affect human performance in an office environment. Referring to Bailey (1982), this study categorizes the research variables into three main categories, i.e., human users, hardware factors, and the contexts in which they interact. It looks into the three factors in turn and analyze how they affect human performance interactively. Specifically vision, hearing, and touch are included as human factors, while visual display unit, keyboard as hardware factors. For environmental factors, physical contexts such as noise, lighting, and work space are considered as well as social contexts. A survey was conducted by sending out the questionnaires to companies from selected industries in Singapore. It was found that certain hardware factors such as positions of keyboard and monitor were associated with physical discomfort. Contextual factors such as lighting layout, sitting position, and colors of office wall were found to influence human performance. Further, an association between the background color and the degree of glare was also found, which influenced human vision. Future research implications are also discussed, applying the findings in this research.

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