A dual-parameter evaluation method for color-enhancement technologies and its application to lighting-spectrum optimization for color-deficient observers

Over 200 million people worldwide suffer from color vision deficiency (CVD), leading to a compromised perception of the color world. Despite the availability of various color enhancement technologies (CETs), assessing their actual performance has remained challenging due to the lack of a comprehensive evaluation method. In this paper, we propose a dual-parameter metric system that quantitatively evaluates CETs' capacity to improve CDOs' color discrimination ability and color fidelity relative to color-normal observers (CNOs). We validated this method by comparing its evaluation results with those of prior studies that relied on psychophysical experiments. Our proposed dual-parameter evaluation system can also be employed to optimize CET-based solutions. As a preliminary exploration, we optimized lighting spectra using LED color mixing for CVD-friendly illumination applications, which demonstrated a clear improvement in color vision for color-deficient observers while maintaining good color fidelity for CNOs’ color vision. •A dual-parameter metric system was proposed to evaluate CET's impact on color fidelity & color discrimination ability of CDOs.•The evaluation method was validated by comparing its results with those obtained from prior psychophysical experiment studies.•The dual-parameter metric system can be applied to optimize CET solutions that can improve CDOs’ color vision.•The optimized lighting spectra can effectively improve color vision for CDOs while maintaining good color fidelity for CNOs.