Turn Up The Volume On Accessibility and Down With The Strobe Lighting

Picture this: You’re killing time, scrolling through Instagram, and notice a post from a favorite artist. Excited, you stop scrolling, anxiously anticipating what cool thing they have in store. Instead of dopamine and adrenaline you are greeted with one-sided muscle weakness— hemiplegia. It starts slowly, the left side of your face tingling, growing numb and weak. Your eye can’t seem to stay open, your head tilted to the left, and then suddenly half of your body as a whole refuses to cooperate. The fluorescent lighting in the room begins to be too much. It’s not long until the pain sets in. Hemiplegic migraine. All you can do is let the episode pass. This was me. The culprit? A teaser for a newly released music video. While hemiplegic migraines are rare, effecting 1 in 10,000 individuals worldwide, photosensitivity is not— and I am far from the only photosensitive fan. 

When you hear the word “photosensitivity," the first thing to pop in your head is probably epilepsy. With 1.2% of the US population having active epilepsy (CDC) you might assume photosensitivity is a unique and rare issue. The truth is, photosensitivity is a trigger for multiple conditions and disorders including but not limited to migraines, sensory processing disorders, autism, dysautonomia (autonomic nervous system dysfunction), and anxiety and panic disorders. According to the National Institute of Health, “Photosensitivity refers to various symptoms, diseases, and conditions caused or exacerbated by sunlight.” Sunlight is not the only cause of photosensitivity, for artificial lighting can be just as dangerous. The Marshall Protocol Knowledge Base (MPKB) states, “Photosensitivity can occur either when the skin is exposed to bright natural light or the eyes are exposed to natural or artificial lights.” An issue causing serious discomfort and complications to a wide variety of people surely would be taken into consideration when creating media, or at least one would hope so. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Several bands have succumbed to unintentional ignorance by excluding labels on intense photosensitive media. This is a scene-wide epidemic begging for an update.

To get a better grasp on how this affects the music scene we need to dig a little deeper into how flashing lights, images, and colors can impact an individual. Depending on the person, the reaction time and severity can differ greatly. According to the MPKB, “Photosensitivity can begin immediately after exposure or begin 1 to 3 days later, sometimes persisting 5 days or more.” For me, personally, on average symptoms start anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes since exposure. Hemiplegia itself can last anywhere from ten minutes to a couple hours; the pain lasting from a few hours to a few days. While hemiplegic migraine is extremely rare, only affecting 0.01% of the world’s population (NIH), it is not the only migraine type to have photosensitivity as a trigger. Migraines alone are super prevalent, with 39 million Americans living with at least one form of migraine. Globally, migraines are the second leading cause of disability (American Migraine Foundation). How common is photosensitivity within the migraine community? The American Migraine Foundation reports, “migraine and photophobia are so closely linked that in absence of an ocular or central nervous system condition, the appearance of photophobia without head pain can still result in a diagnosis of migraine.” 

Most notoriously, strobe lights are known to send epileptics into seizures. Approximately 3% of people with epilepsy have photosensitivity as a seizure trigger; most commonly affecting children and adolescents, yet can still affect adults as well. You don’t even have to have epilepsy as a condition to have a photosensitivity triggered seizure. Most people are not even aware of photosensitivity being a trigger until they have an episode following exposure to flickering lights and/or patterns. (Epilepsy Foundation) 

Similar in presentation to epilepsy is a condition linked to strobe lights called flicker vertigo. According to Charlotte Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat; “Strobe lights have been known to cause flicker vertigo, a condition in which disorientation, nausea, rapid blinking, rapid eye movement, and muscle rigidity are known symptoms.” Flicker vertigo is a phenomenon that can happen to anyone, yet is particularly common in individuals with migraines, autonomic dysfunction, ADHD, autism, and panic disorder. 

Why does this happen? According to the Epilepsy Foundation and a consensus of international experts, multiple factors and key features must be present including flash frequency, intensity of the light source, the area of the visual field, and the pattern or image being shown. Yes, the lighting pattern is important too. The Epilepsy Foundation states, “About 30 percent of people sensitive to lights are also sensitive to patterns.” Colors can also create a challenge for photosensitive individuals, most notoriously being the color red. (Epilepsy Foundation.) This begs the question– How can we, as an industry, make the music scene a more accessible space for photosensitivity fans? 

For starters, we can be consistent with labeling social media and promo content with a photosensitivity warning when content shows flashing lights or images. In an ideal world, we would avoid flashing lights, images, and patterns in our content creation. However, this is not something that is always achievable. Warnings must be highly noticeable and allow fans enough time to close potentially triggering content. Access Guide recommends adding a five second slide at the beginning of the video as well as a warning included in the content caption as well. (Access Guide) Auden Granger, a wardrobe manager in theatrical productions, shed some opinions from their perspective working in the industry. “I do not have epilepsy,” they stated, “but I have chronic migraine, and I also just get very overwhelmed and/or activated by flashing lights.” When asked to share insights on current theatre procedures they shared, “I am frequently frustrated by the ‘warning: flashing lights, theatrical haze’ signs for audience use, because they are so nonspecific, and there are no standards for what qualifies as a flashing light. I feel like many theatres put these up on all productions thinking ‘better safe than sorry,’ and that makes them a useless tool for actual identification. I think haze and flashing lights should be some sort of standardization about what qualifies as a flashing light.” 

The Epilepsy Foundation gathered a group of experts and found consensus for what should be industry standard regarding lighting design.  Lighting design for live events can be made more accessible by being cautious on the placement of spotlights, flash and motion speed, and lighting patterns being used. The Epilepsy Foundation recommends that individual flashes do not exceed three flashes per second. When it comes to contrast, the contrast between alternating bright and dark images should not exceed 20 candelas per square meter. Pattern wise, no more than five moving pairs of stripes or eight pairs of static stripes should be used. (Epilepsy Foundation) When possible, the color red should be avoided. (Access Guide) 

Granger also explains, “In general, I think it is a major flaw of live performance industries to dedicate all attention to accessibility towards audience and front-of-house. It presumes that no disabled people are working on the production, which is a self-sustaining assumption, because if there is no consideration for access, disabled backstage workers and performers will continue to be excluded. Sensory-friendly and access is so distinctly not part of my job, but I end up assisting a lot anyways because I do have a background in disability.” Unfortunately, accessibility tends to be an afterthought in the live event world; a bad habit which begs for attention. Perhaps accessibility standards in general could use a deep dive. 

 When asked about how the theatre industry could improve, they shared, “Ideally, every production should have an Access Coordinator. It should be done during the production process. One difficult thing about theatre is that the design team leaves the production when the show opens, and generally after that everything is handled by the running crew. This means if sensory-friendly alterations are not planned during tech, when the sensory-friendly show rolls around mid-run, no one onsite is empowered enough to make design decisions or know the best decisions to make. Stage management should send out a survey to cast and crew prior to tech, and one thing it should include is a question about lighting sensitivity and if anyone would like flashing lights to be announced during rehearsal or tech period. Some stage managers do send out a survey, but this question is rarely included– you have to know to ask for that accommodation. Another thing that could be useful is creating a run sheet type of document that includes flashing light cues. I often find that when I am navigating backstage during tech and previews, or during the run of a show if I am in a different place, there will be flashing lights I didn’t even know were built into the show because I never see them. This would be a useful tool to provide to whoever is coordinating sensory friendly performances.”

For a while now I’ve had the notion that resorting to strobe lighting as the main lighting design was not just ignorance in the face of accessibility, but also lazy by default. How hard could it be to have fun with lights while avoiding triggering medical episodes? As a photographer with a background in video, I was taught how to use my camera to tell a story. Dialogue is helpful, yet a captivating tale heavily relies on the use of camera angles, lighting decisions, and sound cues. In the context of live events how hard could it be to use less strobe lighting without sacrificing creativity and storytelling? Lighting designer and concert photographer, Chelsea Whitaker, shared a similar mentality while advocating on lessening the use of strobe lights for live events. 

“I don’t love strobe,” Chelsea states. “Aesthetically, I feel like it can be a bit too much. I understand how it can be beneficial in certain instances, but I feel there are other ways to make the show interesting. I find it quite easy to design a show without strobe and still feel it’s creative and engaging. Movement patterns and color changes can be used to create similar effects without being so abrupt and intense.” They also acknowledged why sometimes strobe may be useful. “I can definitely see where strobe would be necessary– simulating a lightning storm, heavy metal breakdowns, etc– and I think there are a few ways they (the production crew) could communicate with the audience. If they have a video wall, they could display a strobe disclaimer leading up to the show start. They could also have signs around the venue, make a verbal announcement, over the PA, or even include that info in pres-how emails sent to ticket holders.” 

If creativity does not have to be sacrificed then why is it still an industry normative to include strobe in live event lighting design? The simple answer? Change is hard. Yet hope for a change in industry standard might just be around the horizon. Lighting designers like Chelsea are actively creating a more accessible and creative experience for all live event enthusiasts. Industry professionals in all aspects of the event scene from wardrobe managers to photographers and tour managers to artists themselves are starting to advocate for less strobe and more fun vibes. Notoriously, The Wonder Years have been known for their anti-strobe concerts while still maintaining the life-changing effect their shows have on the audience. If we follow in their footsteps, perhaps just maybe we will be one step closer to true inclusivity and accessibility in the live music space. We have the facts, we have the people, and we have the tools to make accessible light design an industry standard.