The ability of color defectives to judge signal lights at sea

Abstract

Measures were made of the ability of color-defective men to judge correctly the colors of navigation lights (red, green, or white) presented to them at night under realistic sea conditions. Eighty-one color-defective men were employed; they were categorized as to type and degree of defect using a battery of five color-vision tests. While the average performance of the color-defective men was considerably poorer than that of 24 color normals, there were large individual differences within each category of defect. Attempts to account for these differences in performance by variations in acuity, intelligence, and motivation failed. The extent to which the data can be accounted for by modern color-vision theory is discussed.

Subjects with colour vision deficiency in the community: what do primary care physicians need to know?

“…This correlates with other studies which also showed that all CVD persons, except for a few mild deuteranomals, make errors recognising maritime signals [29,30]. Furthermore, the rate of errors increases with decreasing signal illuminance [29,30]. Both protanopes and protanomals have significantly reduced visual range for red signals [29,31].…”

“…A 1983 study that validated the Holmes-Wright Type B lantern test as a discriminating test showed that all CVD persons failed, except for a few mild deuteranomals [28]. This correlates with other studies which also showed that all CVD persons, except for a few mild deuteranomals, make errors recognising maritime signals [29,30]. Furthermore, the rate of errors increases with decreasing signal illuminance [29,30].…”

“…Furthermore, the rate of errors increases with decreasing signal illuminance [29,30]. Both protanopes and protanomals have significantly reduced visual range for red signals [29,31]. Kinney, Paulson and Beare showed that only 40% of deutans and 14% of protans performed as well as their worse performing NCV subjects [29].…”

“…Both protanopes and protanomals have significantly reduced visual range for red signals [29,31]. Kinney, Paulson and Beare showed that only 40% of deutans and 14% of protans performed as well as their worse performing NCV subjects [29]. It is largely accepted that normal colour vision is essential for safe maritime navigation.…”

A lantern color vision test for the rail industry

“…This is an important consideration because one of the hallmark characteristics of individuals with congenital red±green defects is that there is a high degree of inter-observer variability on ®eld trials [For example, Heath and Schmidt, 1959;Nathan et al, 1964;Kinney et al, 1979;Verriest et al, 1980;Kuyk et al, 1986Kuyk et al, , 1987Hovis et al, 1994]. Some color-defective individuals can perform as well as individuals with normal color vision can perform on certain tasks.…”