What is Color Blindness?

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Color. It affects every part of our lives. Color is emotional, experiential, and tactical. It gives art life. It entices us to eat certain foods and buy certain jewelry, and sometimes it literally defines these things. We also use color to interpret information such as signs and lights. It is deeply ingrained in our basic perception of the world. When the ability to see color is deficient, as in the case of color blindness, there is a dulling of what is seen; or one might say there is a dulling effect in how we see.

Definition of Color Blindness

What is color blindness? Color blindness is a reduced ability to distinguish between colors when compared to the standard for normal human color vision. When a person is color blind, also called color vision deficiency (CVD), they usually have difficulty distinguishing between certain colors such as yellow and orange, green and brown, pink and gray, or blue and purple. These confusions are typical of what is called “red-green color blindness,” which includes protan-type CVD (protanomaly and protanopia) and deutan-type CVD (deuteranomaly and deuteranopia).

Red-green color blindness is usually inherited via X-linked recessive genes. Other types of color blindness exist also, such as tritan-type CVD, also called blue-yellow color blindness, which is associated with the inability to see shades of blue, and confusions between blue and green colors. Blue-yellow color blindness is usually caused by age-related eye conditions such as glaucoma, or exposure to certain chemicals or medical treatments. In very rare cases, a person can be completely color blind, meaning they see only the intensity of light, but not its color. This is called monochromacy or achromatopsia. Achromatopsia can be inherited but can also result from progressive eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. In summary, there are many types and degrees of what can be considered “color blindness,” ranging from partial to complete lack of color discrimination.

To learn if you are color blind, take the EnChroma Color Blind Test. If you have color blindness, our test can tell you your type of color vision and if your color vision deficiency is mild, moderate, or strong — in less than two minutes.

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Fun Facts About Color Blindness

The world of color vision is full of intricacies and interesting facts. At EnChroma, we want you to know everything there is to know about being color blind. So here’s a list of some of the most fun facts we know about color blindness.

#1 Babies Are Born Color Blind

As babies grow, their color vision improves and is typically fully developed by the age of 6 months. Overall color discrimination capability reaches its peak by age 20, and then starts to decline again.

#2 Dogs Don't See In Black And White

Dogs & Color Blindness: Contrary to popular belief, dogs don’t actually see in black and white. Dogs are dichromates, which means they have two types of cone cells, and see in mostly blue and yellow. Their vision is somewhat similar to that of a person with protanopia. Learn more about our furry friends' color vision.

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Fun Facts About Color Blindness

#3 Peanut Butter Isn't Green

People who are red-green color blind are often surprised to find out that peanut butter is NOT green! Green and brown is a common color confusion that seems to be particularly relevant to the shade of peanut butter. Also, because color blind people have a hard time distinguishing between green and yellow, they often have a hard time knowing when a banana is ripe. Many are accustomed to the bitter taste of an unripe banana!

#4 Rainbows May Appear to Have 2-3 Colors

To the normally sighted person, a rainbow features all the colors of the rainbow. For many color blind people, however, a rainbow only appears to have 2 bands of color: blue and yellow. This can also make the green light on a stoplight may appear white or even blue, while the red and yellow lights may look similar to each other.

Read More Fun Facts About Color Blindness

Facts About Color Blindness Page

How EnChroma Color Blind Glasses Work

Improving Efficiency and Accessibility at Work with Color Blind Glasses

Study Finds Arts, Nature and Tourism Less Appealing to People Who are Color Blind

Testing For Color Blindness

If you or a family member are having problems recognizing or distinguishing between colors that other people seem to see, it’s easy enough to determine whether you are color blind without visiting a doctor. The EnChroma Color Blind Test is an online color blind test designed to estimate the type and level of color blindness. Created by EnChroma, an independent company based in California, the EnChroma color blind test is the #1 online color blind tool for color vision deficiency that has so far been taken by more than one million people worldwide.

The EnChroma test is based on the classic and widely-used Ishihara “hidden digit” test method and is combined with a computer-adaptive algorithm to measure the type and level of color vision deficiency (CVD). It is available in a numbers mode for adults and children ages 10+ and in a shape mode for kids ages 5+.

The Ishihara test for color blindness is named after a Japanese ophthalmologist Shinobu Ishihara who invented the test for the Japanese army in 1917. Ishihara has been a good screening test, but it is 100 years old and does not leverage the benefits of today’s computer-based adaptive testing protocols. The EnChroma test deters memorization and cheating and can be self-administered on a phone or laptop.

Testing children for color blindness poses unique challenges. Color vision develops early in infancy, but until a child can name colors or numbers it is challenging for a parent, teacher or eye care professional (ECP) to learn if a child is color vision deficient (CVD). As a result, many children with color blindness go undiagnosed. To solve this problem, EnChroma introduced in 2019 a Kids Color Blindness Test that enables younger children to take the test in “shape mode,” in which identifying simple geometric shapes (square, circle, triangle) replace the standard numeric symbols.



Who Should Take a Color Blind Test?

Since the EnChroma Color Blind Test is easy, quick and free, it’s really something that anyone can do to satisfy their curiosity about their color vision. In some cases, color vision deficiency can be very mild and may not be noticed until it becomes a problem, such as when applying for a job that requires a high degree of color discrimination. Anyone with a family history of color blindness should consider taking the test. For certain professions where color perception is an important factor, including electricians, pilots, designers, and artists to name a few – a color blind test can identify potential issues that might crop up in the course of employment.EnChroma Color Blind Test

Testing For Color Blindness

If you or a family member are having problems recognizing or distinguishing between colors that other people seem to see, it’s easy enough to determine whether you are color blind without visiting a doctor. The EnChroma Color Blind Test is an online color blind test designed to estimate the type and level of color blindness. Created by EnChroma, an independent company based in California, the EnChroma color blind test is the #1 online color blind tool for color vision deficiency that has so far been taken by more than one million people worldwide.

The EnChroma test is based on the classic and widely-used Ishihara “hidden digit” test method and is combined with a computer-adaptive algorithm to measure the type and level of color vision deficiency (CVD). It is available in a numbers mode for adults and children ages 10+ and in a shape mode for kids ages 5+.

The Ishihara test for color blindness is named after a Japanese ophthalmologist Shinobu Ishihara who invented the test for the Japanese army in 1917. Ishihara has been a good screening test, but it is 100 years old and does not leverage the benefits of today’s computer-based adaptive testing protocols. The EnChroma test deters memorization and cheating and can be self-administered on a phone or laptop.

Testing children for color blindness poses unique challenges. Color vision develops early in infancy, but until a child can name colors or numbers it is challenging for a parent, teacher or eye care professional (ECP) to learn if a child is color vision deficient (CVD). As a result, many children with color blindness go undiagnosed. To solve this problem, EnChroma introduced in 2019 a Kids Color Blindness Test that enables younger children to take the test in “shape mode,” in which identifying simple geometric shapes (square, circle, triangle) replace the standard numeric symbols.



Who Should Take a Color Blind Test?

Since the EnChroma Color Blind Test is easy, quick and free, it’s really something that anyone can do to satisfy their curiosity about their color vision. In some cases, color vision deficiency can be very mild and may not be noticed until it becomes a problem, such as when applying for a job that requires a high degree of color discrimination. Anyone with a family history of color blindness should consider taking the test. For certain professions where color perception is an important factor, including electricians, pilots, designers, and artists to name a few – a color blind test can identify potential issues that might crop up in the course of employment.EnChroma Color Blind Test