A mathematical approach to assess the ability of light filters to improve color discriminability of color vision deficient persons☆

Abstract

Color vision deficiency (CVD) is a frequent condition that alters color perception to such an extent that many people encounter serious difficulties on their everyday lives. In this work, we present a strategy to analyze the effectiveness of light filters aimed to improve color discriminability of persons with CVD. The calculations are based on a simple model of color discrimination which has been successfully applied to several animal species. We first tested the calculations on three well-known commercial lenses designed for persons with CVD. In agreement with results of clinical studies, the calculations show that the highly colored lenses (VINO® and X-Chrom®) enhance chromaticity contrasts between problematic colors, whereas the more neutral Enchroma® do not provide any benefit. Also, we predict that two light filters proposed in recent works for novel lenses would not improve the performance of the commercial ones. Since the mathematical approach presented in this work enables predictive filter assessment, it opens the door to future research on the design of more effective lenses to improve color discriminability of persons with CVD. The calculations allow for large-scale screening of numerous light filters and different colored stimuli, CVD conditions, light sources, etc.