Clinical examination of the chromatic saturation

Abstract

The attribute of color vision known as ‘saturation’ was studied in the diagnosis of congenital and acquired dyschomatopsias, by means of tests elaborated from the Munsell Book of Color. The results were as follows

1. The desaturated Panel D-15 evidenced the color confusions occurring during dyschromatopsias, at a low level of saturation (Munsell chroma 2), thus allowing early diagnosis of neural and retinal diseases; on account of the test's great sensitivity, it is obligatory that the norms be assessed in relation to the subject's age.

2. The 'New Color Test', in the separation phase, directly evidenced the neutral zone of the dyschromatopsias, thus indicating the axis of the color deficiencies.

3. The New Color Test, in the color classification phase, evaluated the severity of color deficiencies according to the level of saturation.

4. The New Color Test, in the grey classification phase, may give indications as to the luminous relative efficiency curve and lightness discrimination.

5. Some experiments (not yet commercially available) also gave promising results for the evaluation of saturation in daily clinical practice.

Key Words:

• color vision tests
• dyschromatopsias
• color vision deficiency