Contrast of displays on the retina

When the eye projects an image on the retina, contrast degradation takes place because of stray light in the eye. This letter shows that for a 24 x 18 display, the maximum achievable retinal contrast for a 4 x 4 checkerboard image is approximately 80:1 for young persons, going down to approximately 37:1 for a 70-year-old person. This information is important for both display consumers and manufacturers because it puts the display contrast specification into perspective and may affect the contrast design target of a display system.