Novel color vision assessment tool: AIM color detection and discrimination

TL;DR

A new computer-based tool called AIM is developed to quickly and accurately assess color vision, potentially replacing traditional methods.

Contribution

AIM introduces a self-administered, adaptive color vision test that improves on existing tools' speed and accuracy.

Findings

AIM demonstrated classification accuracies comparable to the anomaloscope.

AIM is rapid and has high test-retest repeatability.

HRR and FM100 were found to be less accurate than AIM and the anomaloscope.

Abstract

Color vision assessment is essential in clinical practice, yet different tests exhibit distinct strengths and limitations. Here we apply a psychophysical paradigm, Angular Indication Measurement (AIM) for color detection and discrimination.

AIM is designed to address some of the shortcomings of existing tests, such as prolonged testing time, limited accuracy and sensitivity, and the necessity for clinician oversight. AIM presents adaptively generated charts, each a N×M (here 4 × 4) grid of stimuli, and participants are instructed to indicate either the orientation of the gap in a cone-isolating Landolt C optotype or the orientation of the edge between two colors in an equiluminant color space. The contrasts or color differences of the stimuli are adaptively selected for each chart based on performance of prior AIM charts. In a group of 23 color-normal and 15 people with color vision deficiency (CVD), we validate AIM color against Hardy-Rand-Rittler (HRR), Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test (FM100), and anomaloscope color matching diagnosis and use machine learning techniques to classify the type and severity of CVD.

The results show that AIM has classification accuracies comparable to that of the anomaloscope, and while HRR and FM100 are less accurate than AIM and an anomaloscope, HRR is very rapid.

We conclude that AIM is a computer-based, self-administered, response-adaptive and rapid tool with high test-retest repeatability that has the potential to be suitable for both clinical and research applications.

Not applicable.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12967-025-07270-z.

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