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

Abstract

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 an effect of EnChroma filters. Using these stimuli, we tested the ability of EnChroma filters to enhance color vision for 10 anomalous 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. We found a significant effect of the filters in enhancing the appearance of colors along the red-green axis, but only at the first time point, and not after a week of regular use. Our results provide the first good evidence that notch filters can enhance color perception for anomalous trichromats.