Chroma

Abstract

Color blindness is a highly prevalent vision impairment that inhibits people's ability to understand colors. Although classified as a mild disability, color blindness has important effects on the daily activity of people, preventing them from performing their tasks in the most natural and effective ways. In order to address this issue we developed Chroma, a wearable augmented-reality system based on Google Glass that allows users to see a filtered image of the current scene in real-time. Chroma automatically adapts the scene-view based on the type of color blindness, and features dedicated algorithms for color saliency. Based on interviews with 23 people with color blindness we implemented four modes to help colorblind individuals distinguish colors they usually can't see. Although Glass still has important limitations, initial tests of Chroma in the lab show that colorblind individuals using Chroma can improve their color recognition in a variety of real-world activities. The deployment of Chroma on a wearable augmented-reality device makes it an effective digital aid with the potential to augment everyday activities, effectively providing access to different color dimensions for colorblind people.