Occupational colour vision requirements for police officers

The impact of display saturation on visual search performance in congenital colour vision deficiency

BACKGROUND

Colour-related search tasks are common in many professional fields. The study investigated whether increasing chromatic saturation can enhance the visual performance of individuals with colour vision deficiency (CVD) in colour-related search tasks.

METHODS

10 normal trichromats (5M, 5F; Mean (SD) age: 23.1 (3.3) years) and 15 individuals with CVD [8 deutans and 7 protans identified by HRR plates] (14M, 1F; aged 28.6 (8.7) years) participated in this study. Four naturalistic sceneries of everyday tasks/ birds, animals and flowers of 15 different colour combinations (1 pair of colours in each combination. e.g., 'brown/black' or 'red/green') were presented in 'low' saturation, 'original' (unaltered images) and 'high' saturation condition using the Psychopy program on a colour-calibrated monitor. On each trial, the subject was asked to identify a specific-coloured target.

RESULTS

Overall, the visual search performance index (expressed as product of accuracy and a reciprocal of reaction time (%correct*s-1) of the normal trichromats [Mean (SD):77.76% correct*s-1 (16.32)] was significantly higher than CVD [45.71% correct*s-1 (18.95)] in the "original" test images (p = 0.001), but in individuals with CVD, there was no significant difference between 'original' [45.71% correct*s-1 (18.95)] and 'high' saturation condition ([47.43% correct*s-1 (20.07)]; p > 0.05). However, colour-wise, increased saturation showed improvements (≥ 10%) in protans mainly for 'red' combinations with other colours such as white (i.e., 'red/white'), purple, orange, grey, green, brown and black.

CONCLUSION

The study suggests that increasing the saturation of certain colour combinations can potentially aid in the visual search performance of individuals with CVD. This knowledge will help in better counselling and management of the patients.

Is screening for congenital colour vision deficiency in school students worthwhile? A review

This review analyses the literature on screening for congenital colour vision deficiency in school students, which predominantly uses the Ishihara test. The review was framed with respect to the established Wilson and Jungner criteria for screening programs. These criteria relate to the characteristics of the condition concerned, the performance of the screening test, the existence of treatment options and the performance of screening programs. The literature reviewed suggests that congenital colour vision deficiency has not been shown to increase risk of road traffic crashes and is not a preclusion to driver licensing in most developed countries. The occurrence of congenital colour vision deficiency has been used to limit entry into certain occupations; however, the value of screening school students with regard to occupational preclusion is questionable. Stronger evidence exists indicating no association between congenital colour vision deficiency and level of educational achievement. Studies showing any association between congenital colour vision deficiency and other health and lifestyle impacts were rare. The most commonly used screening test (using Ishihara pseudoisochromatic plates) performs well with respect to detecting red-green colour vision deficiencies. Finally, the only interventions we identified for congenital colour vision deficiency were management ones around the availability of specific tinted lenses and computer programs to aid colour perception in certain tasks. Given this picture, the weight of evidence appears to be in favour of not adopting (or discontinuing) routine colour vision screening programs for school students; however, it may be worthwhile for a career advisor to refer school students to an optometrist or ophthalmologist for colour vision screening, upon expression of interest in an occupation where normal colour vision is either particularly desirable or is a regulatory requirement.