The influx of computer work now required by the average worker, both at home and in the office, has placed new strains on productivity standards and ergonomic quality. Many companies are turning to new technologies to aid their workforce in this task. One such enhancement that seems to be taking hold is the addition of computer monitors to the existing workstation in an effort to increase screen real estate. Researchers have already begun to explore the productivity impacts of multiple monitor displays and have shown marked benefits in specific applications. However, little has been done to systematically identify standard uses of large screen displays and their potential impacts on the ergonomic wellbeing of users.

This research attempts to both refine the existing definition of large screen displays and identify their ergonomic impacts during normal computer use. The methodology for achieving these conclusions can be summarized in three key steps: first, identify standard tasks and uses for large screen displays through observational analysis of actual users; second, define large screen display configurations based on user-defined parameters; and third, empirically evaluate ergonomic quality of these large screen display configurations.

Findings from this research yielded a key set of commonly performed large screen display type tasks which include, copy/pasting, drag/dropping, referencing material, comparing material, and monitoring incoming information. It was then determined that both eye strain and neck strain due to changes in the display configurations could have a potential impact on ergonomic quality; so, large screen displays were classified according to two related parameters: retinal resolution and skewness. An empirical study was then conducted in which 5 different display treatments, varying on the aforementioned parameters, were evaluated for ergonomic quality. The results of this study indicated that large screen display configurations with a skewness greater than and less than 1 negatively impact overall ergonomic comfort. Also, it was determined that when using 2 monitors to simulate a large screen display, they should be positioned at equal normal distances and subtending uniform angles symmetrically from the neutral user perspective.