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Title	COLOR VISION ADAPTATION AND THE FARNSWORTH D-15 COLOR VISION TEST
Program Number	075047
Author	Buckingham, Robert S. OD, FAAO (Michigan College of Optometry)
Coauthor(s)	Sherah Eavey (OD)
Topic	Public Health & Environmental Optometry
Day	Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Time	9:00 AM-6:15 PM
Room
Abstract	PURPOSE: The sodium vapor lamp has many applications including lighting our roadways, parking lots and warehouses. This type of illumination may cause changes in color discrimination in persons with normal color vision. This study examines a subject’s color discrimination pre- and post- adaptation to a sodium vapor lamp to determine whether color discrimination changes over time. METHODS: The sodium vapor lamp was calibrated to 28 foot-candles. The color vision of 33 subjects was tested with the Farnsworth D-15. The test was administered immediately after exposure to the sodium vapor lamp and then repeated after ten minutes of exposure to the lamp. RESULTS: The results were analyzed using the Color Vision Recorder and SPSS software. The Color Vision Recorder computed Bowman’s scores for the Color Confusion Index (CCI) and Age Corrected Color Confusion Index (AC-CCI). In addition, the color vision recorder also calculated Vingrys and King-Smith’s Confusion Index (C-index) and Selectivity Index (S-index). Using SPSS, a paired-samples T-Test did not reveal a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the pre- and post-adaptation tests for the CCI, AC-CCI, C-Index or S-index. CONCLUSIONS: Results show that color vision discrimination remains constant under sodium vapor lighting demonstrating agreement with previous studies that report nearly instantaneous chromatic adaptation for color vision discrimination under various lighting sources. The fact that the Farnsworth D-15 does not detect minor defects may be considered a source of limitation in this study. Nevertheless, the resultant data is sufficient to lay experimental designs for further investigation. Other more sensitive color vision tests should be implemented in studies similar in structure.
Key Words	Color vision, Environmental vision