SeeColors: A Whole New World of Color for Those with Color Vision Deficiency

Can you see the letter C? No? Well, you may have a form of color blindness. Color blindness – or color vision deficiency (CVD) – affects approximately 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women. The problem is, although nearly 300 million people suffer from CVD, many are not aware of their condition. And if they do know, they may not realize they are missing out on the fullest spectrum of color.

Samsung Electronics and scientists at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics have invented a way for people with the condition to see the world in more optimized colors. The new test is at the heart of an innovative app called SeeColors*, which is available on Samsung QLED TVs globally for the first time.

The Challenges of Living with Color Blindness

Mark Green, who has CVD, is positive about his condition, but explains some of the challenges of CVD in everyday life, “My friends ask me how do I know grass is green? How do I know it isn’t? I can distinguish colors when they are on their own. It’s when they are together I can get mixed up.” Mark is a sales manager and believes being color vision deficient is not too much of a problem at work, except for charts, “Someone might point to a green slice of a pie chart – but they all look brown to me.”

According to Professor Klara Wenzel, who heads up the Department of Mechatronics, Optics and Mechanical Engineering Informatics at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, some color vision deficient people suffer from an inferiority complex because of their condition and simply “being different.”

“This is why we began this research nearly 30 years ago. We thought: it’s not possible to cure this condition (yet), but it is possible to help people who live with it.”

Offering More People the Opportunity to Enjoy More Optimized Colors 

The retina of the human eye contains approximately 6.8 million color-sensitive receptors, so it’s a herculean task to create a test to measure them all. Professor Wenzel and her team designed an digital test which uses the concept of color filters. Through mathematical modeling and years of experiments, they produced the Colorlite^® Test, or C-test.

Professor Wenzel and her team then took it a step further. They adapted the C-test so it could be used as an app on any Samsung Galaxy S6 mobile phone and above, called the ‘SeeColors’ test. And now, the SeeColors app makes it possible for color vision deficient people to see more optimized colors on their Samsung QLED TV.

Yui Yoon Lee, a Principal Engineer at Samsung Electronics who collaborated on the project, explains, “The SeeColors app works via simple steps. After users download the app from the Smart TV app store and receive their results, the app will automatically change QLED TV’s color setting according to the test result. What’s so exciting is that the app and TV allow people with the condition to have an more optimized viewing experience.”

With QLED TV in particular offering pure and realistic colors, it is the perfect time for those with CVD to have access to the SeeColor solution. QLED TV uses quantum dots to build brightness, improve contrast and open up a huge color palette that reaches 100 percent color volume. Now more people can enjoy a better viewing experience with more optimized colors on QLED TV, including those suffering from some forms of color vision deficiency.

“It’s Color Heaven!” an upgraded viewing experience with the SeeColors App

Mark, a participant of a recent SeeColors app test in New York, was very impressed by the color production of QLED TV when utilizing the SeeColors app, “It’s actually really cool. The SeeColors display seemed a lot more rich, diverse and like “color heaven” compared to the dull display.”

Another participant, Dustin, was also surprised and pleased, “Colors were more vibrant with QLED TV. The reds stuck out a lot more in the updated TV. The greens and oranges were easy to differentiate, which is something that’s usually very difficult to identify.”

“We want to help people with color vision deficiency see and enjoy the billions of colors that the world has to offer,” said Samsung’s Yui Yoon Lee. “Technology has an enormous impact on our lives – particularly with regard to our health. Samsung is part of this evolution, but we want to go further. We want to improve the quality of everyone’s lives – day in, day out.”

Samsung Electronics created the SeeColors app as part of its commitment to enrich people’s lives via technology. The SeeColors app on QLED TV will help people with CVD enjoy more optimized colors, providing richer, more immersive viewing experiences.

* This app is not intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease or medical problem. Any information found, acquired or accessed through this app is made available for your convenience and should not be treated as medical advice.

**Users can also download the app from Google Play and the Galaxy App Store for Galaxy devices. The app on mobile devices only provides the diagnosis of CVD levels.