Special glasses for colour blind visitors: the Mercedes-Benz Museum in vibrant colours

Press Information
18 September 2023

• Visual Aids to loan to colour blind adults and children

• Enjoy the exhibition in fuller colour and with enhanced contrast

• A free offer for a vibrant visit to the Museum

Stuttgart. Automotive history is diverse and colourful. This is also to be understood quite literally, as the fascinating colours, shades and contrasts in the Mercedes-Benz Museum exhibition show. However, many people are affected by colour blindness (colour vision deficiency) and cannot perceive the full range of hues and shades. Various forms of red-green colour blindness, referred to by experts as “anomalous trichromacy”, are particularly common with one in 12 men (8 per cent) and one in 200 women (0.5 per cent) affected.

For visitors with this limitation, the Mercedes-Benz now offers the public special glasses of the company EnChroma. These glasses very precisely filter a small part of the colour spectrum from the visible light, making it possible to see an expanded range of distinct, vibrant colour. The result is a much more colourful and contrast-rich perception of the surroundings. Adults and children can now borrow these special aids to colour vision, free of charge, for their visit to the exhibition.

“A barrier-free viewing experience of the exhibition is very important to us. I am delighted that people with colour vision deficiencies can now experience the bright red of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster or the powerful green metallic of the Mercedes-Benz 300 S Cabriolet A in a whole new way with these special glasses. With this offer, we want to be a pioneer among museums in Germany.”

- Bettina Haussmann, Director Mercedes-Benz Museum

“Mercedes-Benz is a renowned pioneer in the automobile industry, and now it is once again leading the way with the Mercedes-Benz Museum becoming the first in Germany to make EnChroma glasses available to colour blind visitors. Thousands of guests will now get to experience joy and wonderment as the colours of sleek, iconic Mercedes-Benz vehicles spring to life before their eyes. We applaud the Mercedes-Benz Museum for making the experience of colour accessible to all visitors.”

- Erik Ritchie, CEO of EnChroma

The company EnChroma from Berkeley, California/USA, developed the patented glasses almost 15 years ago and has earned various awards for their work in this respect. The innovative glasses are loaned by over 200 organisations, including over 100 museums worldwide. These include the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. The glasses are also used in schools and universities – such as the University of Hamburg and RWTH Aachen University – for example.

Experts estimate that in Germany alone, around 3.5 million people are affected by colour vision deficiencies such as anomalous trichromacy. The number is estimated at 30 million people across Europe and 350 million worldwide. People who are red-green colour blind only see an estimated ten per cent of the hues and shades seen by those with typical colour vision.

Contacts:

Friederike Valet, +49 (0) 151 58 622 944, friederike.valet@mercedes-benz.com

Julia Löwenstein, +49 (0) 151 58 610 215, julia.loewenstein@mercedes-benz.com

The Mercedes-Benz Museum is open daily from Tuesday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The ticket desk always closes at 5 p.m.

Registration, reservations and latest information: Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. by telephone on +49 (0) 711 17 30 000, by email to classic@mercedes-benz.com or online at www.mercedes-benz.com/museum

Press photos and further press releases: media.mercedes-benz.com/content/classic

Further research and multimedia material: mercedes-benz-archive.com/museum

Captions

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows a colour comparison of the perception of the Mercedes-Benz 300 S Cabriolet A in Room Legend 4: Post war Miracle – Form and Diversity, 1945 to 1960.

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows the simulation of how people with impaired colour perception see the Mercedes-Benz 300 S Cabriolet A in Room Legend 4: Post war Miracle – Form and Diversity, 1945 to 1960.

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows the simulation of how people with impaired colour perception see the Mercedes-Benz 300 S Cabriolet A in Room Legend 4: Post war Miracle – Form and Diversity, 1945 to 1960 with colour vision corrected by “EnChroma” glasses.

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows a colour comparison of the perception of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster in Room Legend 4: Post war Miracle – Form and Diversity, 1945 to 1960.

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows the simulation of how people with impaired colour perception see the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster in Room Legend 4: Post war Miracle – Form and Diversity, 1945 to 1960.

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows the simulation of how people with impaired colour perception see the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster in Room Legend 4: Post war Miracle – Form and Diversity, 1945 to 1960 with colour vision corrected by EnChroma glasses.

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows a colour comparison of the perception of the Mercedes-Benz LF 3500 fire engine in Room Collection 3: Gallery of Helpers.

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows the simulation of how people with impaired colour perception see the Mercedes-Benz LF 3500 fire engine in Room Collection 3: Gallery of Helpers.

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows the simulation of how people with impaired colour perception see the Mercedes-Benz LF 3500 fire engine in Room Collection 3: Gallery of Helpers with colour vision corrected by EnChroma glasses.

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows the simulation of how people with impaired colour perception see the Mercedes-Benz LO 1112 bus in Room Collection 1: Gallery of Voyagers.

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows the simulation of how people with impaired colour perception see the Mercedes-Benz LO 1112 bus in Room Collection 1: Gallery of Voyagers with colour vision corrected by EnChroma glasses.

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows the simulation of how people with impaired colour perception see the interior of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupé in Room Legend 4: Post war Miracle – Form and Diversity, 1945 to 1960.

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Colourful and diverse automotive history: The Mercedes-Benz Museum offers visitors with red-green blindness “EnChroma” special glasses to borrow free of charge. These enable a much more colourful and high-contrast perception of the environment. The photo shows the simulation of how people with impaired colour perception see the interior of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupé in Room Legend 4: Post war Miracle – Form and Diversity, 1945 to 1960 with colour vision corrected by EnChroma glasses.

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