TITLE:
Development and Validation of a Practical Color Vision Screening Method Using Common Materials Color
AUTHORS:
Angelea Perez
KEYWORDS:
Color Vision Deficiency, Screening, Psychophysics, Red-Green Deficiency, Pseudoisochromatic Plates, Educational Assessment
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.13 No.5,
May
13,
2026
ABSTRACT: Purpose: Color Vision Deficiency (CVD) can interfere with educational performance and occupational participation; however, efficient school-based screening tools remain limited. This study evaluated four low-cost color vision screening tests against the Hardy-Rand-Rittler (HRR) Pseudoisochromatic Plates for detecting red-green CVD. Methods: Forty-nine adults (35 normal, 14 CVD; 18 - 59 years) completed HRR plates, crayon, color-board, paint-chip classification, and a psychophysical red-increment discrimination task. Results: Crayon and color-board tests showed poor reliability due to color desaturation, with overlapping error rates between normal and mild CVD groups. Paint-chip classification improved normal performance but failed to separate mild CVD. In contrast, the red-increment test differentiated CVD from normal vision. At the smallest increment, CVD participants performed near chance (0.28 ± 0.21), whereas normal participants remained above chance (0.68 ± 0.29). ROC analysis demonstrated discrimination (AUC = 0.862 (95% CI: 0.74 - 0.98)), improving with a compound classifier (AUC = 0.906 (95% CI: 0.80 - 0.99)). Conclusions: Low-cost color materials lack control; red-increment discrimination offers screening.