Adapting to an enhanced color gamut - implications for color vision and color deficiencies

Empirical tests of the effectiveness of EnChroma multi-notch filters for enhancing color vision in deuteranomaly

Manufacturers of notch filter-based aids for color vision claim that their products can enhance color perception for people with anomalous trichromacy, a form of color vision deficiency (CVD). Anecdotal reports imply that people with CVD can have radically enhanced color vision when using the filters. However, existing empirical research largely focussed on the effect of notch filters on performance on diagnostic tests for CVD has not found that they have any substantial effect. Informed by a model of anomalous trichromatic color vision, we selected stimuli predicted to reveal the effects of EnChroma filters. Using these stimuli, we tested the ability of EnChroma filters to enhance color vision for 10 deuteranomalous trichromats in three experiments: 1. asymmetric color matching between test and control filter conditions, 2. color discrimination measured using four alternative forced-choice, and 3. color appearance measured using dissimilarity ratings to reconstruct subjective color spaces using multidimensional scaling. To investigate potential effects of long-term adaptation or perceptual learning, participants completed all three experiments at two time points, on first exposure to the filters, and after a week of regular use. We found a significant effect of the filters on color matches in the direction predicted by the model at both time points, implying that the filters can enhance the anomalous trichromatic color gamut. However, we found minimal effect of the filters on color discrimination at threshold. We found a significant effect of the filters in enhancing the appearance of colors along the red-green axis at the first time point, and a trend in the same direction at the second time point. Our results provide the first quantitative experimental evidence that notch filters can enhance color perception for anomalous trichromats.

Designing for sensory adaptation: what you see depends on what you've been looking at - Recommendations, guidelines and standards should reflect this

Sensory systems continuously recalibrate their responses according to the current stimulus environment. As a result, perception is strongly affected by the current and recent context. These adaptative changes affect both sensitivity (e.g., habituating to noise, seeing better in the dark) and appearance (e.g. how things look, what catches attention) and adjust to many perceptual properties (e.g. from light level to the characteristics of someone's face). They therefore have a profound effect on most perceptual experiences, and on how and how well the senses work in different settings. Characterizing the properties of adaptation, how it manifests, and when it influences perception in modern environments can provide insights into the diversity of human experience. Adaptation could also be leveraged both to optimize perceptual abilities (e.g. in visual inspection tasks like radiology) and to mitigate unwanted consequences (e.g. exposure to potentially unhealthy stimulus environments).

Aids for color vision deficiency: introduction to the feature issue

Approximately 8% of Caucasian males and 0.5% of females have congenital red-green color vision deficiencies (CVD), and a number of eye diseases are accompanied by acquired CVD. This feature issue includes ten contributions regarding existing and proposed algorithms and devices intended to help CVD subjects compensate for their color deficiencies. It also addresses limitations in the effectiveness of CVD aids for subjects with different types and degrees of color vision deficiency.