Berkeley Start-upsGlasses Reveal Color to the Color-Blind
by Tamra Teig
Imagine being unable to see the difference between red and green: a stop sign would be the same color as a tree. Picture a purple orchid, the fiery oranges and pinks in a sunset, or a rainbow–people with color blindness have never seen these things.
For the vast majority of 300 million people worldwide who have color vision deficiency (CVD) the key to seeing a full spectrum of colors for the first time is an ordinary-looking pair of sunglasses, with some extraordinary science behind them.
Color Blindness is Really Color Weakness
Our vision is based on cone cells, three types of light-sensitive nerve cells found in the retina, which allow us to see red, green and blue. A genetic condition causing red-green color blindness, the most common type of CVD, causes the red and green sensing cones’ functions to overlap more than normal. These overlaps weaken the signal of color information sent to the brain, causing shades of green, orange, brown, red, pink and purple to appear muddied or washed out.
This is the result:
If the color blindness is severe, it can be difficult to correctly recognize any colors besides blue or yellow, causing problems with jobs and many everyday tasks. Traffic and warning lights look the same as white lights on a building, depth perception is compromised, charts and graphs lose their meaning, and for 8% of boys globally, color-oriented learning materials and tests can be meaningless.
One red-green color blind notable who hasn’t let it stand in his way: Mark Zuckerberg. He told The New Yorker in an interview that the reason Facebook’s theme is blue is that it’s the only color he can see with any clarity.
How Enchroma Works
Standard sunglasses only filter ultraviolet light; they darken the view to cut glare, but they also reduce color definition. EnChroma engineers use sophisticated optical coating equipment to apply a special material to the lenses–up to 100 layers, each only a few nanometers thick. This coating filters out the wavelengths of light in precise ranges where the overlap of red and green occur, clarifying the signal to the brain.
The result?
Seeing is Believing
The million dollar machines EnChroma uses are the same as those used to make optical parts in satellites and lasers, so it should come as no surprise that prices for the special sunglasses start in the low $300’s.
For someone who’s seeing life in full color for the first time, that’s a bargain.
Take EnChroma’s Free Color-Blindness Test
EnChroma currently offers sunglasses, pediatric sunglasses and a line of sports sunglasses, available in prescription or non-prescription polycarbonate (plastic) lenses. Patent pending in the USA and internationally.
Note: Co-founder and CEO Tony Dykes attended Berkeley.
