Nintendo, Activision, Ubisoft preview unsafe games at E3
Posted: 06/13/2014 Filed under: Results of safety testing, Video Game Companies | Tags: Activision, computer games, E3, epilepsy, flash, flicker, Nintendo, photosensitive epilepsy, seizures, Ubisoft 2 Comments
The image shown in the upper left of this screenshot, from Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros., is one frame in a flashing sequence in that fails the seizure safety test. The graph on the right shows the brightness of the flash exceeding the safe limit.
The 2014 E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) just wrapped up in Los Angeles with all the major game publishers previewing their upcoming releases. The big companies publishing these games have mammoth budgets and should be able to fund some quality control that supports the interest of public health. Apparently that line item is still not getting the focus it deserves.
Last week PCMag.com listed the 10 most anticipated games to be announced at E3. How many of them might trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy?
Destiny, a massively multiplayer first-person shooter game to be released in September, fails the safety test, too. Unlike the Nintendo game, it’s a completely new product. Both screen shots are taken from the Harding Flash and Pattern Analyzer, which tests images for seizure safety.
So far, 4 of them tested positive for seizure-inducing sequences–meaning they failed the Harding automated seizure safety test. This isn’t a final result because not all have enough “footage” available online for me to test adequately. Some may ultimately seem safe.
These tested as unsafe:
Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo)
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Activision)
Destiny (Activision)
Tom Clancy’s The Division (Ubisoft)
In other words, the patterns, flashes, and/or red intensity of onscreen images produce the exact type of visual stimulation–that’s been carefully defined by researchers–that places viewers at risk of photosensitive seizures. People with a genetic predisposition for these seizures are vulnerable, whether or not they have ever experienced a seizure before, and whether they even know they have this genetic trait.
Nintendo’s Mario games have been triggering seizures for more than 20 years. Reports began surfacing in 1992 about seizures from Super Mario. As a result, a study on video game seizures published in 1999 used Super Mario World to test subjects known to be photosensitive. And a lawsuit was filed in 2001 by parents of a boy who had a seizure while playing Super Mario Kart.
But what about new games such as Destiny? A whole new game provides the perfect opportunity to create an entirely novel visual experience. Why not architect the whole thing keeping in mind the seizure hazard that persists in many games?
In sum, some of the video game industry’s biggest players are continuing to ignore safety guidelines, placing the public at unnecessary risk. I don’t know where the myth originated that games produced nowadays don’t produce seizures.
Share this:
Can handheld games trigger seizures?
Posted: 02/21/2014 Filed under: Results of safety testing, Seizure Risk | Tags: 3DS, computer games, flash, Nintendo, photosensitive epilepsy, photosensitivity, seizures, video games Leave a comment
Nintendo’s 3DS console
Think the screen of a handheld game is too small to provoke seizures?
It isn’t. Games on the 2.9 inch screen of Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance SP provoked quite a few seizures in my daughter when she owned one ten years ago.
Nintendo’s current handheld is the popular 3DS console, which has a 3.5 inch screen. I recently tested some 3DS games to ascertain their seizure safety.
The rule of thumb (as it were) is that, for flashing and patterns to trigger seizures, the provoking image must take up at least one fourth of an individual’s visual field. It’s not unusual for kids to hold their portable games at close enough range for that small a screen to fill that much of their total view. Incidentally, although concerns were raised when the 3DS was introduced three years ago, there isn’t any conclusive evidence that 3D effects increase the risk of seizures in people who are photosensitive.
The IGN.com website recently identified the 14 most anticipated 3DS games for 2014 release. Here’s how they fared when tested for compliance with guidelines for preventing visually induced seizures; 6 of the 14 failed, and an additional 5 came close. Tests were done using the Harding Flash and Pattern Analyzer.
Here is how these highly anticipated 3DS games performed as far as meeting image safety guidelines for preventing photosensitive seizures:
14 Big 3DS Games of 2014, published January 30, 2014 on IGN.com
Yes, there are seizure warnings on all game packages, but the warnings are pretty worthless for consumers. A year ago I posted about Nintendo being fully aware of, but publicly downplaying, the risk of seizures from its games.
Share this:
Images in race car games can provoke seizures
Posted: 01/13/2014 Filed under: Health Consequences, Results of safety testing | Tags: computer games, photosensitive epilepsy, photosensitivity, racing games, seizures, video games Leave a comment
Rapidly changing scenery can include image sequences that trigger seizures.
Parents concerned about their kids playing shooter and adventure games that feature a lot of violence may feel more comfortable with the racing game genre. But these games aren’t necessarily harmless–because they contain lots of images with the potential to trigger seizures in those with photosensitive epilepsy.
Problem image sequences in racing games involve lights and patterns in a variety of scenes, such as:
- close-ups of rotating wheels/tires
- revolving scenery as seen by driver when cars do airborne flips
- collision impact shock, lighting change, and vibrations
- fast-moving patterns of quickly changing views of bridges, tunnels, and landscape features
I tested clips from 7 recommended racing games listed on a site that reviews video games, movies, music, and other media, and advises parents on their content. The potential of particular games (or any other media) to provoke seizures is absent in product reviews on this site and others.
During a rapid airborne rollover in Dirt 2, shown in this screen grab, the road appears at the top of the screen. This sequence violated seizure safety guidelines.
Of the 7 games, 4 contained seizure-provoking sequences, and the remaining 3 had sequences that approached the safety limits. The very fast-paced action and inevitable crashes provide many opportunities for visual overstimulation, although some of the games with equally exciting visuals did not actually fail the seizure safety test.
My results were arrived at using the Harding Flash and Pattern Analyzer, a tool for determining compliance of video images with guidelines for prevention of visually induced seizures. Your results may vary:
- settings on your monitor affecting brightness, contrast, and other visual effects can raise or reduce the demands on the visual cortex
- factors such as fatigue, illness, alcohol, etc. temporarily lower an individual’s seizure threshold
- players will encounter game scenes I didn’t analyze
- sitting farther away from the screen and taking frequent breaks can lessen the images’ visual impact
Here are the results from the Harding Flash and Pattern Analyzer:
The fast action of racing games means higher seizure risks.
Methodology: I ran multiple video clips through the analyzer, including official announcement trailers and gameplay clips uploaded by users. If the initial test for a game didn’t show safety violations, I continued testing up to an additional 6 – 8 clips for each game before moving on (or until a failure occurs, if that came first).
I’ve previously tested multi-player, role-playing games (MMORPGs) and first-person shooters. Overall, based on my samplings of these genres and racing games, MMORPGs are least likely to trigger seizures.
Share this:
Safe, unsafe video games enter the classroom
Posted: 10/25/2013 Filed under: Educational Video Games, Health Consequences, Results of safety testing | Tags: computer games, flash, Minecraft, photosensitive epilepsy, seizures, video games, World of Warcraft Leave a comment
Flashing in this Minecraft sequence exceeds safety guidelines for photosensitive epilepsy and could provoke a seizure.
Playing video games during school used to be against the rules, but not anymore. In fact, more students play them in school now, and not necessarily because they’re bored. Popular video games are being brought by teachers into the classroom as teaching tools.
While parents can monitor which games their kids play at home, when an entire class is working on projects in Minecraft—as part of the history curriculum–parents may not know or have any say in the matter. If parents have concerns about the teacher’s choice of games, they’re typically thinking about age appropriateness of content or the amount of violence depicted. The likelihood of particular games triggering seizures is unlikely to be on anyone’s mind. Shouldn’t the games our kids are exposed to during school pass tests for seizure safety?
Some years ago I observed my daughter in math class using an educational application to practice “math facts.” She had nothing to do after she’d finished the in-class assignment, so she was sitting in front of a program that ran a flashy screen sequence to reward students for getting a certain number of answers correct. We had already requested that she not be exposed to computer screens during school. I began to wonder what other video games were being used in school and whether they might possibly provoke seizures.
Since then computer use in schools and elsewhere has grown tremendously. Teachers are increasingly incorporating more complex games into the curriculum to engage students and provide more creative, immersive, open-ended learning experiences. Using World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Civilization, and other games teachers are providing instruction in such diverse skills as problem-solving, collaboration, resource management, narrative style, and inference, and in subjects such as government, history, and language arts. This trend is expected to grow as more teachers enter the workforce who grew up playing these immersive games.
Which of these games are safe?
Recognizing the opportunity for a huge new market and a promising approach to raising student engagement and performance, video game companies and teachers are now collaborating on developing school-friendly versions of popular games. The education consultancy TeachThought recommends six video games as platforms teachers can use to enrich instruction in any content area at any grade level:
The Elder Scrolls IV: Skyrim
Civilization V – one minor safety violation in about a dozen gameplay clips and trailers.
Fallout 3
Portal 2
Armadillo Run
Heavy Rain
Using the Harding Flash and Pattern Analyzer, I tested these six for compliance with internationally developed guidelines for image safety for individuals with photosensitive epilepsy. Only one game—Armadillo Run—had real potential to trigger seizures. Surprisingly, it’s also the only game in this group that has no fiery explosions, villains, or monsters that typically generate the problem flashes in video games. Instead it’s a puzzle game showing simulated action of shapes and patterns, with a clean and appealing illustration style. Without actually testing a game for seizure safety, you can’t make assumptions about what’s safe and what isn’t.
When I previously tested World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs, and again in more extensive recent tests, I didn’t find a seizure problem. Minecraft, however, contains images that can trigger seizures in individuals with photosensitive epilepsy.
With so many games to choose from, there’s no telling which will be incorporated into classroom instruction and homework. And teachers (as well as students, parents, and doctors) don’t know which games are seizure safe. (Most game companies probably don’t know, either.) When choosing video games as teaching tools, teachers are likely to be swayed by other factors: their level of familiarity with the game, recommendations of colleagues, the relevance of story lines to the curriculum, and the degree of age appropriateness for their students.
How to get people to pay attention to the image safety issue? More on that in my next post.
Share this:
Grand Theft Auto V looks seizure-safe
Posted: 09/27/2013 Filed under: Photosensitive Seizure Prevention, Results of safety testing | Tags: computer games, flash, flicker, Grand Theft Auto, photosensitive epilepsy, seizures, video games 3 Comments
Grand Theft Auto V passed the seizure safety assessment test. This scene got close to the safety limit but stayed within it.
Say what you like about the just-released Grand Theft Auto V, but it’s not likely that the game will trigger seizures. You’d think an action-adventure game like this would be full of bright screen flashes that pose a seizure risk. I tested a lot of trailers and game play clips and didn’t find any scenes with unsafe-for-seizures visuals. Your results could vary, of course.
But I’ve got a hunch the folks at developer Rockstar Games are making the effort to make the game safe. In a few instances the flash level got close to the safety limit, but didn’t go past it, which makes me think the developers know where the official limit is (3 or more flashes per second) and have decided to respect it. While it’s possible that someone could, under the right circumstances, experience a seizure even when the flash level is near but below the danger zone, the chances of that happening aren’t high.
Unlike many immersive games with missions and quests, GTA isn’t set in an exotic fantasy world, where art directors might claim the need for artistic freedom (to use whatever visual effects they deem necessary). It’s not full of bright, flashing explosions. The appeal of the game is in the very down-to-earth characters, story lines, and realistic settings–not the quality of the visual experience.
Scenes like this in Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) also passed the safety test because they did not employ quick sequences of alternating light and dark images.
Grand Theft Auto has evolved quite a bit since its beginnings as an arcade shooting game in 1997. The visual style of earlier versions, from 2001 GTA III and prior, is noticeably more jarring: jumpier, more flash, and indeed, a GTA III trailer failed the safety test.
Guidelines for seizure-free video sequences were developed more than 20 years ago in the UK in response to seizures provoked by TV. In 2005 the International Telecommunication Union, an agency of the United Nations, published recommended guidelines for reducing photosensitive seizures from television. These guidelines for safe flash rates and pattern movement could be applied to any screen-based media. I tested downloaded trailers for compliance with the safety guidelines using an application designed for this, the Harding Flash and Pattern Analyzer.
GTA III (2001) contained flickering scenes such as this one that failed the seizure safety guidelines. Rapidly alternating light, from dark (screen above) to bright (screen below) and back, create a strobe-like effect.
In its first three days after its launch last week, the game grossed a billion dollars in sales, setting a record for any kind of entertainment release. So much for the argument that making games safe will spoil all the appeal and fun.
This brightly lit screen alternating with the darker version can trigger seizures if the flicker occurs 3 times per second or more.
Actually, maybe revealing that the game won’t cause seizures is not good PR for the company. Somehow a safe game doesn’t seem in keeping with GTA’s guys-will-be-guys attitude. Maybe Rockstar would prefer that customers don’t realize the game seems to lack seizure-provoking images. The average GTA player may not want to feel that the game has been “softened” in any way. In GTA culture, playing a seizure-safe game is probably for wimps.
Share this:
Batman “Arkham” games could make you seize
Posted: 09/15/2013 Filed under: Protective Lenses, Results of safety testing | Tags: Batman, computer games, flash, photosensitive epilepsy, photosensitivity, seizure prevention Leave a comment
Holy flashes, Batman! The Caped Crusader apparently doesn’t look out for people vulnerable to photosensitive seizures. The next game in the hugely popular Batman game franchise fails to meet photosensitive epilepsy image safety guidelines.
Batman: Arkham Origins will be released October 25 containing image sequences that could give you a seizure. If you are concerned about the risk of seizures, steer clear–or make sure to wear your blue Bat-lenses to block out seizure-provoking scenes. I tested official release trailers for the game and for Arkham Origins: Blackgate, a version just for handhelds, and found episodes of excessive flash in both violations. Of course, your results may vary, because with games it’s impossible to anticipate all potential screen sequences.
The previously released Batman: Arkham video games can trigger flash-induced seizures, too. With the same image sequence analysis tool I tested earlier Batman: Arkham games, Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum, to see whether they fail as well. Indeed, they do. All three are portrayed not in old-fashioned comic book style, but in the style of today’s typical online adventure games.
Shown below are screen captures from the analysis tool as it assesses each of these titles. For those unfamiliar with the format of these test results, click on the screen to see it full-size. The upper left corner shows the specific video frame being analyzed. Underneath is a table showing the safety violations involving flash rate, red flash, and patterns. The bulk of the screen is a graph reflecting how video sequences from the game trailers measure up against international guidelines for preventing photosensitive seizures. Each second of video is composed of a sequence of 29 individual frames, and across the bottom of the screen the frames are shown in sequence in the video.
Batman: Arkham Origins (2013)
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate for DS3 and PS Vita (2013)
Batman Arkham City (2011)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)
Share this:
David Lynch music video: 70 violations of guidelines for reducing seizures
Posted: 07/05/2013 Filed under: Music Videos, Photosensitive Seizure Prevention, Results of safety testing | Tags: David Lynch, flash, flicker, Kanye West, music videos, photosensitive epilepsy, photosensitivity, seizure warning, Twilight: Breaking Dawn 4 Comments
This warning is shown briefly before the video begins showing an onslaught of flashing images. This is just a screen shot, not the video itself.
David Lynch’s just-released music video for Nine Inch Nails’ “Came Back Haunted” provides more than 4 minutes of nearly constant seizure-provoking flashes and images. When analyzed for seizure safety, the video fails in 70 instances to adhere to international safety guidelines for flash, including the intermittent use of saturated red images.
Before the barrage of flashes begins, the official release on the Vevo music video website is accompanied by the following message: “WARNING: This video has been identified by Epilepsy Action to potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Viewer discretion is advised.”
Two very big problems with this:
1. There’s a disturbing, no doubt intentional, consequence of highlighting the risk of seizures. Emphasizing that viewers are flirting with danger seems to be a marketing move. Unfortunately, this tactic does attract attention, but it trivializes the actual health risks.
2. Contrary to the claim that the UK Epilepsy Action organization determined that there was a photosensitive seizure risk in the video, Epilepsy Action’s website states that the organization was not consulted about the video. The organization is investigating and plans to continue reporting on it. A news item on the website quite correctly states, “It appears conscientious to show a warning before the video. However, many people with photosensitive epilepsy do not know they have it until something like this triggers their first seizure.” If filmmaker Lynch is conscientious, why not remove the seizure risk in the first place?
Trivializing seizures by using them for marketing
Here’s what happens when the seizure risk is used for marketing purposes. People who know nothing about epilepsy are charmed by the video’s association with seizures and use it to spice up their commentary:
- “David Lynch and Trent Reznor Make Seizure-Inducing Magic Together“ from Grantland.com
- “The New Nine Inch Nails Video Might Determine If You Have Epilepsy“ from Tucson Weekly
“…before getting into the fact it comes with a STERN WARNING THAT IT HAS BEEN KNOWN TO CAUSE SEIZURES one must take into account it was directed by David Lynch, the man responsible for Twin Peaks, Eraserhead and Blue Velvet…. I know you’ll all click on the video below to see if I’m just being outlandish and overreactive (what I like to call Glenn-Beck-ish), but remember, you were warned. Also, if you’re rendered comatose (or worse), I call dibs on your watch.”
- “Nine Inch Nails Release ‘Came Back Haunted’ Video, David Lynch’s Epileptic Nightmare“ from website of Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM
“Came Back Haunted” packs in a myriad of flashing, distorted clips interspersed with Renzor singing as the camera captures the footage in a near-epileptic state of jitter.”
I found one reasoned commentary. Instead of swallowing the seizures-as-marketing bait, Rachel at bangs.com, to her credit, sees through it:
“…who wants to just hang out and watch a dumb boring music video anyway? I want a bit of DANGER in my viewing experience!”
Safely see for yourself how seizure-inducing it is!
I recorded what happened when I tested “Came Back Haunted” with the program I use to test images for seizure safety, the Harding Flash and Pattern Analyzer. If you view the testing session, you can see what it looks like when a clip is chock full of violations of seizure safety guidelines. When viewing the clip below of the Harding Flash and Pattern Analyzer test session, seizures are very unlikely unless you stare at the upper left-hand corner of the screen at very, very close range. (Smaller images affect a smaller area of the brain’s visual cortex, making it harder to generate the requisite number of neurons misfiring to get a seizure going.)
In this clip the video itself runs at twice its normal speed in the upper left corner of the screen. The rest of the screen shows the analyzer’s findings, in a large line graph and a table that tracks the number of frames that fail the safety test. This is not a borderline case!
Note: If you’re curious to see the offending video on YouTube in its official form, do keep in mind that since the flashing is downright nasty, the smaller you make the image on your screen, the less danger there is of triggering a seizure.
About Epilepsy Action’s role
Apart from the unauthorized and false statement that Epilepsy Action was consulted, there’s yet another problem with the claim. David Lynch is an American filmmaker, Nine Inch Nails is an American band, and the epilepsy warning refers to a British epilepsy advocacy organization that is vigilant and outspoken in monitoring photosensitive seizure triggers in popular media. Epilepsy Action has drawn the public’s attention to photosensitive seizure-provoking material in visuals broadcast on UK TV, in music videos (Kanye West) and in movies (Twilight: Breaking Dawn).
The American epilepsy advocacy community should be much more proactive and visible to the public, explaining the dangers of seizure-provoking media–including the fact that many people without “regular” epilepsy who have just photosensitive epilepsy are unaware they have the condition. If the epilepsy organizations are concerned about stigma–and they are–they need to advocate against seizure-provoking media and against demeaning portrayals of seizures that stem from photosensitivity. A whole generation of young people is forming opinions about seizures and epilepsy by reading the relentlessly insensitive stuff like David Lynch and Nine Inch Nails making “seizure-inducing magic together.”
Hat tip to John Ledford for making me aware of the video!
Share this:
Open letter to the BioShock creative team
Posted: 04/18/2013 Filed under: Photosensitive Seizure Prevention, Results of safety testing, Seizure Warnings, Video Game Companies | Tags: BioShock, computer games, flash, flicker, photosensitive epilepsy, seizure warning, seizures, video games Leave a comment
Congratulations on last month’s successful launch of BioShock Infinite. The reviews are extraordinary. BioShock Infinite is said to set a new standard for what the video game experience can be. Players are moved and enthusiastic about many aspects of the game and speak effusively about their unprecedented degree of involvement with the story and characters. With all the creative energy, care, and respect for players that went into developing BioShock, though, the game–like so many others–exposes players to visuals that can cause seizures.
I examined several BioShock launch trailers and some other “footage” – a total of eight clips of a few minutes each – and assessed them using an application that identifies video sequences that can trigger seizures. Most of the material was fine, but three of the clips contained brief flashing sequences that don’t meet criteria for safe viewing. It doesn’t take more than a brief exposure to trigger seizures in those who are vulnerable.
This BioShock scene uses safe levels of flash.
Contrary to what many gamers assume, eliminating seizure triggers doesn’t make a game boring to look at or play. Irrational Software created a visually stunning, highly engaging experience in which most of the scenes don’t pose a seizure risk. Reports of video game-induced seizures began surfacing in 1981 in newspapers and medical journals. A great deal is known about what types of images and sequences can provoke seizures.
Guidelines for seizure-free video sequences were developed in the UK more than 20 years ago. Since 1991 all television programming and commercials there are required to pass a seizure-safety test. Japan put in place a similar measure following the 1997 Pokémon broadcast that led to hundreds of seizures. In 2005 the International Telecommunication Union published recommended universal guidelines for reducing photosensitive seizures from televised material.
While all these efforts were made to reduce the risk to consumers of photosensitive seizures, video game publishers took their own action—providing printed seizure warnings. The warnings began appearing in the early ‘90s, after a few consumers filed personal injury lawsuits. Putting a seizure warning on video games has thus far provided legal cover for your industry, but offers little protection for customers.
Flash in this scene is safe, too.
The warnings all state that photosensitive seizures happen to “a very small percentage of people.” Seizures from flashing images are not rare, but people believe they are because that’s what the warnings say! The wording of these warnings is based on researchers’ estimates that were made decades ago, before today’s sophisticated graphics and before more recent studies that suggest that many photosensitive seizures could be going completely unnoticed. Many doctors continue to think these seizures are rare because that’s what they were taught.
If you haven’t heard many reports of seizures happening while playing BioShock, don’t assume the seizures aren’t occurring. They’re just not being identified. A person experiencing seizures is likely to lose awareness and not even realize what’s happening, or notice that a bit of time has passed that they can’t account for. Furthermore, most seizures don’t involve convulsions, and the only sign others might see could be as subtle as a short period of staring.
Whether or not a seizure is noticeable, it’s a serious event with real risks to health. It can impair health, thinking, and behavior for days afterward. Sometimes a seizure results in permanent disability.
But this screen capture from the Harding Flash and Pattern Analyzer shows that flash in the BioShock sequence shown at upper left failed seizure safety guidelines.
It’s not reasonable to expect parents to continually monitor their kids for possible signs of a seizure, particularly given that video games are played while people face a screen. So let’s turn to older teens and adults in the midst of a game, who might theoretically be more self-aware and responsible for their own well-being. Will they be vigilant for seizure symptoms such as odd sensations or altered consciousness?
Just last month in a New York Times interview your creative director Ken Levine said, “We work really hard to wear down the audience’s ability to even process. If players are immersed enough, they stop treating it as a piece of artifice and just start experiencing it.” Do you see the problem here? In this ideal game experience, how can players be expected to “immediately stop playing and consult a doctor” as the warning advises, if they develop symptoms consistent with a seizure?
With BioShock Infinite now brought to market, people are asking what your company will do next. You could easily raise the bar further for the industry by publicly committing to developing seizure-safe games. I live in the Boston area and would welcome the chance to begin a conversation about this at your headquarters in Quincy.
Share this:
DVDs for genius babies may flunk safety test
Posted: 03/04/2013 Filed under: Home Video/DVD, Results of safety testing | Tags: Baby Einstein, baby videos, Brainy Baby, flash, flicker, photosensitive epilepsy, photosensitivity Leave a commentWhether or not DVDs marketed to stimulate educational development in babies and toddlers provide a headstart on learning, their visual content may be provoking seizures in viewers. When I tested a number of the Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby DVDs, I found some sequences of patterns and flickering that could easily provoke seizures in someone with photosensitive epilepsy.
Who would even consider the seizure risk from DVDs for babies? Not the producers, apparently.
The Harding Flash and Pattern Analyzer found no violations of seizure safety guidelines in most of the DVDs I tested, and those containing violations were not full of seizure-provoking sequences. For anyone vulnerable to visually induced seizures, though, the offending sequences are very clearly quite unsafe to watch. Even brief sequences of a few seconds of flickering images can trigger seizures in some people, even if they have no history of seizures. A soothing DVD for babies isn’t where you’d expect to be bombarded by images that in some people cannot be viewed without triggering a seizure.
The spinning pinwheel in Baby Beethoven
Flicker doesn’t always look like a light pulsing on and off. The pattern and flicker sequences in these DVDs that failed to meet criteria for seizure safety included screen-filling images of a swirling black and white spiral, a rotating pinwheel, interlocking gears in motion, and “snow” in motion that looks like a TV signal problem. The rotating pinwheel has small gaps between the colors so that when the pinwheel spins, in effect the colors and white areas create a flicker.
To be clear, photosensitivity has never been found in children under age 2, and it typically doesn’t emerge until age 6 or 7. The brains of babies may not have developed to the point where viewing these images might actually provoke a seizure. But who’s to say these images might can’t create some form of neurological stress in very young children? Then, of course, there is a seizure risk to any photosensitive parents, siblings, caregivers, and others who might be watching alongside the baby.
This rotating spiral fills the entire screen for 5 seconds during Brainy Baby Left Brain in a sequence that could trigger seizures. Even a small still image is hard to look at!
In addition, researchers have raised the possibility that one factor influencing the emergence of photosensitive epilepsy in an individual is that person’s cumulative exposures to visual stimuli. The theory is that each time the brain processes these intense visual experiences, its capacity to absorb more of them is reduced a little. Add all of those incidents up, and the brain eventually uses up its lifetime ability to normally absorb any more of these experiences. From that point onward, vivid patterns and flashing lights and images can provoke seizures.
Note that home videos are not subject to photosensitive seizure regulation in any country. The UK and Japan enforce seizure safety standards on broadcast TV, and the UK also provides at least a warning for movie theater audiences. New standards going through the approval process at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) will eventually cover all image presentations, including interactive images.
In Baby van Gogh these gears spin for 12 seconds, a risk for anyone with pattern sensitivity
With thanks to Michael Rich, MD, MPH, Director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston for first bringing to my attention the spiral image above.
Share this:
7 seizure triggers per hour from Spanish TV
Posted: 10/21/2012 Filed under: Medical Research, Political Action & Advocacy, Results of safety testing, TV | Tags: photosensitive epilepsy, photosensitivity, seizure prevention, TV Leave a comment
Jaime Parra, MD, PhD, with poster describing the Spanish television study
Spanish TV viewers are exposed to potentially seizure-inducing visual sequences about seven times per hour, according to a study released this month at the 10th European Congress on Epileptology in London. The study was led by Jaime Parra, MD, PhD, an epilepsy specialist at Madrid’s Hospital La Zarzuela and Sanatorio Nuestra Señora del Rosario.
Dr. Parra and his team recorded 105 hours of broadcasts across seven channels, capturing four consecutive hours of morning programs on five consecutive days in January. A total of 738 instances were identified where viewers were exposed to visuals that did not meet the safety guidelines for visually induced seizures. The Harding Flash and Pattern Analyzer assessed flash rate, luminance (brightness), intensity of red images, and spatial patterns.
Of the 738 safety violations, 714 incidents involved bright flash. The study’s authors concluded that “Spanish broadcasters seem to be unaware of the risk of photosensitive epilepsy. National guidelines should be adopted to lower the risk of Spanish TV content triggering epileptic seizures in susceptible individuals.” The safest channel was dedicated to children’s programming. The investigators plan to bring their results to the attention of Spanish media and government officials as well as the Spanish public.
Results from the next stage of this project, which will involve analyzing the intensity of the visual stimuli that were recorded, will be presented at an upcoming meeting of the Spanish Neurological Society. The team also plans to assess television broadcasts in other European countries.
To read the poster summarizing the initial findings, click here.
Seizures from Video Games 
