Color differences without probit analysis

Abstract

Color science generally considers color differences from the standpoint of distance metrics. These distance metrics are typically experimental and are based on many paired comparisons and probit analysis. The predominant focus is on the derivation of a uniform metric that is optimized for small color differences around the just-noticeable difference limit. Increasingly sophisticated mathematical modeling is then used to fit a range of laboratory data sets. While this work has yielded invaluable industrial applications, it has perhaps left certain aspects of color differences under explored. For example how do non-experts typically describe color differences? What are the natural language characteristics of the description of color difference? This paper considers color differences specifically from the nominal or linguistic perspective.