• Evaluation of a New Color Vision Test: "Color Vision Testing Made Easy"

  By: Cotter, S. A., O.D., Lee, D. Y., O.D., Ph.D., French, A. L.

Purpose

Pseudoisochromatic plate tests such as the Ishihara and Dvorine, while very effective in screening for red green color deficiencies in adults, have limited effectiveness for young children. At present, there is no color vision test that is appropriate for children 3-6 years old that has good validity, is inexpensive, allows rapid assessment, and is commercially available. A new pseudoisochromatic color plate test specifically designed for young children, "Color Vision Testing Made Easy" (CVTME) has recently been introduced. Because of our interest in finding a suitable test that can be used to screen young children for color deficiencies, we evaluated this test's validity.

Methods

Forty one subjects were predetermined to be color normal (n=20) or have hereditary color deficiency (n=21). A battery of color vision tests including the Ishihara, Panel D-15, and the anomaloscope were used for the diagnosis and classification of color deficiency. Each subject was then tested using the new pediatric color vision test, CVTME.

Results

All 20 color normal subjects passed and 19 of 21 color deficient subjects failed CVTME. None of the deuteranopic, protanopic, and protanomalous subjects correctly identified any of the CVTME test plates. Five of seven deuteranomalous subjects failed CVTME. The two subjects who passed CVTME also passed the Ishihara and the Panel D-15. The two subjects had the mildest color deficiency (simple deuteranomaly) as evidenced by anomaloscopic testing.

Discussion

The simple design of both parts of CVTME is excellent for young children. Most children by the age of 3 years can verbally identify and name a circle, square, and star. For children who cannot or will not respond verbally, one can use the black and white replicas or colored demonstration plate to make the task one of matching. Additionally, the selection of Part II (dog, boat, balloon) together with the demonstration replicas, allows most children 3 years of age or older to be easily tested. Verbal identification, drawing over the figure, or selecting the matching demonstration replica can be used. The three plates of Part II allows for rapid assessment which is critical considering a young child's limited attention span. In addition, it should facilitate color vision screening on a large scale.

Conclusion

Results of this validation study indicate that CVTME has a high degree of efficacy as a color vision test. CVTME was 100% compatible with the Ishihara with the same specificity and sensitivity. There were no false positives. The response patterns of normal and color deficient children were very clear-cut so that a diagnosis was easy and made with a high degree of confidence.