Higher-frequency TV screens are less likely to provoke epilepsy-type fits,
according to an Italian scientist.
A television image is built up from flashing lights. In the US, sets flash at
60 hertz; in Europe, at 50 hertz. Frederico Vigevano, of the Bambino Gesù
Children’s Hospital in Rome, asked 30 light-sensitive people to watch 50-hertz
or 100-hertz television screens. The lower-frequency screens caused half the
volunteers to experience seizures, whereas the faster ones bothered only one
person (Neurology, vol 50, p 790).
