Wisconsin researchers have released a free software tool that could help Web surfers susceptible to certain seizures.
An estimated one in 4,000 people has photosensitive epilepsy and could suffer a seizure when exposed to bright colors and rapidly flashing images. The condition gained prominence in 1997 when more than 800 Japanese children were hospitalized after viewing a cartoon. Since then, television directors, video-game makers and others have tested their content to make sure it doesn’t reach seizure-inducing thresholds.
Web developers, though, didn’t have simple ways to run such tests. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison set out to change that.