Don't Let Color Blindness Hold You Back

A Guide to the Basics of Color Blind Tests

Seeing colors is complicated and involves our eyes, brain, and the world around us. While some people may have better color vision than others, it's important to note that perfect color vision is rare. Most people have some degree of color blindness or color deficiency, which can affect their ability to distinguish between certain colors.

There are various color blind test that measure color perception and color vision, and the difficulty level of these tests can vary depending on the specific test and the individual taking it. Some color tests involve identifying color names, while others require matching colors or arranging colors in a particular order. Some tests may also involve the use of color filters or special lighting conditions.

Most people are able to perceive a wide range of colors, including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, as well as various shades and tones in between. However, some individuals may have color vision deficiencies or color blindness, which can make it difficult to distinguish between certain colors.

Color perception can also be influenced by factors such as lighting conditions, the colors of surrounding objects, and individual differences in the way that the brain processes visual information. 

For example, the same color may appear differently depending on whether it is viewed in natural sunlight or artificial lighting, or depending on the individual's color vision abilities and cognitive processing.

It's not uncommon for certain color tests to be challenging, and it's possible that only a small percentage of people may achieve a perfect score on some tests. However, it's important to keep in mind that a perfect score on a color test doesn't necessarily indicate perfect color vision in real-life situations.

Color Blind Test: What You Need to Know

A person’s ability to see, experience, and interact with the world around them is one of the most important parts of the human experience. To be able to see the wonders of the world, enjoy nature and make memories is what defines us. 

In this pursuit sometimes, we get disadvantaged by conditions that may not be painful or harmful but can be unnerving and inconvenient while moving through daily life. 

Color blindness is one such condition, which can cause a person to grow apart from their immediate environment as they are unable to experience colors the same way a person with normal vision would.

If you have ever felt a disconnect with the way your peers and friends describe color or have had trouble with regular activities like checking the ripeness of fruits, telling the difference between two colors, getting sunburnt and not noticing it, you might want to go for a color blind test. 

While it’s not harmful if it occurs independently of any underlying conditions, it can be inconvenient while navigating life and different activities daily. 

While not entirely treatable, color blindness can be reduced to a certain extent. To find out how a color blind test works and if you need one, let us take a closer look at some basics.

The Basics of Color Blindness

Color blindness can be defined as a distinct inability to tell different colors apart, most commonly shades of red and green. More common in men than women, color blindness can be caused by a variety of factors. 

It can be a result of ageing, a reaction to a medication, an underlying eye condition, or chemical exposure. In most cases, however, it has been defined as a genetic condition, where people who carry the conditions are most likely to pass it down to their children.

The lack of color sensitivity in color blind people is a failure within the color photo-receptors or cones within the retina. Going for a color blind test can help determine if there indeed is a problem within the retina. 

It is important to note that in some cases color blindness can be caused by an underlying eye condition that affects the optic nerve such as Glaucoma. In such a case, your color sensitivity may return once your underlying condition is duly treated.

Do You Need a Color Blind Test?

If you frequently find quite a difference between your color perceptions with those around you, you might want to go for a color blind test. 

If you have especially noticed a troubling inability to differentiate two colors from one another, a color vision test may be the answer to your perception anxieties. Keep an eye out for the following symptoms which might mean it’s time to schedule an appointment for a color blind test:

  • Bright Light Sensitivity
  • Headaches or Eyestrain when focusing on red on green backgrounds and vice-versa
  • Trouble focusing on colored pages
  • Difficulty telling shades of red and green apart

Color Blind Test

A color blind test, unlike other tests, does not require any prior preparation on the patient’s end. The ophthalmologist will administer the test with the help of test cards. 

The cards contain a circular cluster of multi-cultured dots, at the center of these dots, are numbers or symbols which are also dots but in a different color. This is called the Ishihara Test. If you can identify the contrasting colors and tell the doctor the number or symbol you see, you have normal color vision.

If there is difficulty in being able to see a number or symbol within the multi-colored dots, you might have color blindness. 

Next, the doctor will administer the color vision test alternating between the two eyes and ask about any perceived difference in color intensity between the two eyes. Once the color blind test is over, the doctor may diagnose any difficulty in color perception as any of the following:

Deuteranopia: Difficulty in identifying between shades of Red from Purple and Green from Purple

Deuteranomaly: Most common type, shades of Green and Yellow appear Red.

Protanopia: Difficulty in identifying between shades of Blue from Green and Red from Green

Tritanopia: Difficulty in identifying between shades of Yellow from Green and Blue from Green

Achromatopsia: Complete color blindness, vision only in shades of Grey

 

A color blind test is, therefore, imperative in helping you determine if you have any lapses in your color perception abilities. The test is simple and can even be done at home, and one can treat it to some extent with the help of filtered eyeglasses. 

Ultra-difficult Color Test

Lenstore, a UK-based eye care company, has created an ultra-difficult color test that’s so challenging, the retailer says that less than 1% of the first 2,000 people who took it got a perfect ten out of ten.

The test involves distinguishing between different hues of the same color and putting the colors in the correct order on the spectrum.

Lenstore says that women fair better than men on the test. Females scored an average of 57.7%, while men obtained an average of 53.8%. These results closely mirror the current scientific data on sex and color perception.

In a 2012 study, Israel Abramov a psychologist from Brooklyn College found that males are less adept at perceiving colors in the center of the color spectrum, such as yellows, greens and blues. The same study showed that men were better at distinguishing quick-changing objects from afar.

Color blindness is also much more common in men. According to the National Eye Institute, 8% of men and 0.5% of women are color blind.

It’s believed that these differences in perception stem from humans evolving in hunter-gatherer societies in which men tracked distant objects and women focused on things up-close.

Age is also a major factor in the ability to perceive distinctions between colors. People between the ages of 31 to 35 scored the best with an average of 60%. While people ages 81 to 89 averaged 38%.

These results also gel with current scientific research. After the age of 70, the number of people who have trouble correctly perceiving color increases rapidly. “We find the color discrimination declines with age and that the majority of color defects among the older population are of the blue-yellow type,” Marilyn E. Schneck, PhD, and colleagues at The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute wrote.

Country of origin also plays a factor

 

Here are the top ten countries in terms of color perception, according to their report:

  1. Cyprus: 66.0%
  2. South Africa: 65.0%
  3. United States: 61.7%
  4. Bulgaria: 60.0%
  5. Germany: 58.8%
  6. Australia: 57.5%
  7. Poland: 56.7%
  8. France/Portugal: 56%
  9. Zimbabwe: 53.3%
  10. Spain: 51.5%


While there was a significant difference between numbers one and ten on the list, there is no solid research that says whether people from different parts of the world are any better or worse at perceiving color. But there are differences in how colors are labeled.

For example, the word “orange” didn’t exist in the English language until orange trees were brought from Europe to Asia around the year 1500. There are also some cultures that speak unwritten languages that don’t have a word for color.

“There are tons of languages that have words for big and small, or hot and cold, without a word for size or temperature. Most unwritten languages don’t have words for abstractions. You don’t need ’em,” anthropologist Paul Kay said according to Sapiens.