Slashdot Mirror
Euro Coins Test for Color Blindness
Chris writes "Three-hundred million Europeans now have an easy way to check whether or not they suffer from red-green color blindness according to optics.org. Spanish researchers are suggesting that the new Euro coins, introduced in January of this year across most of Europe, could be used as an instant test for red-green color blindness. Color blindness sufferers confuse reds, yellows and greens. Traditional tests to detect deficiency in color vision are difficult to evaluate or calibrate. But in trials comparing 5 cent coins, which have a reddish tone, with 10 and 20 cent coins, which have a yellowish tone, color-blind observers were incapable of separating them while normal observers achieved the operation in seconds."
You'd think whoever was charged with designing a new coinage would have been tasked with making sure they are easily distinguishable by all, including older people with bad vision, the color blind, etc...
11*43+456^2
It's lucky they're different sizes then. It would be really annoying living somewhere where the money was the same size and colour!
you'll also know that you're colour blind when you eventually realise that your local publican has already figured this out and has been short-changing you for the past 6 months.
This is especially bad for those of us who suffer from colour-blindness, dyslexia, and dyscalculia.
Wow, I'm glad they discovered this. I mean, finding red and green objects is -So- difficult in this world. Without these coins, we would probably never be able to test our eyesight.
Is it just me or is there no sense to this?
With my dying breath, I curse Zoidberg!
Complete BS. There are books of standard tests that look for not only the common red-green color blindness, but also several other less common forms. Here's a cool online version.
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
But there does not seem to be a difference at all!
normal observers achieved the operation in seconds
You mean to tell me that it takes > 1 second for a non-colorblind person to determine color? I must be some kind of color genius.
t.
From the article:
The point is that the vast majority of the population will never get in to have an opthalmologist evaluate their color vision, but now anyone can perform their own screening with a little pocket change.
Since one of the causes of R/G anomolies is undiagnosed Multiple Sclerosis, this is A Good Thing.
This seems pretty typical, ignoring the color issue for the momment, you want to be able to put your hand in your pocket looking for a dime and find a dime without pulling out all the coins and sorting. Dimes aren't the easiest to sort from pennies, or at least I get pennies as often as dimes but atleast I can feel and tell that I only have quarters or nickels. So the same size was a poor start. The color comparison is OK only if the coins are new and the user isn't color blind, what are these coins going to look like in 5 years, there is a huge variation between a new shiny penny and a 6 month old one and then as they get older they get very dark, the change in the life of a penny is 10 time the difference shown between the 20 and 50 coins shown in the photo. The idiot that did this should be fired, from a very large cannon, the color of the cannon shouldn't matter ;^).
"About the euro design, it is clear that color vision deficient people have not been taken into account."
For everyone who has already paid with euros, this is obviously nonsense.
Euro coins can be distinguished by- the shape of the edge
- their size and
- their thickness
in addition to the color of the alloy(s) and the number.While it may be feasible that euro coins can be used for testing against color blindness, the statement that color-blind or blind people cannot distinguish between coins of different values is to be considered wrong.
I have to admit that many had problems adjusting to the new currency, but these problems were primarily related to the conversion between values rather than to the new coins and bank notes themselves.
It might be true, however, that blind (not color-blind) people have problems because every country can design one face of each coin (the other face is the same in all countries). However, about 90-95% of the coins that circulate here in Austria are Austrian euros.
Having spent a couple of months in the US, I find that US coins are harder to distinguish than euro coins as they are all made of a cupro-nickel clad and thus have the same color (except for the Cent which is made of copper-plated zinc).
Additionally, the fact that the denomination is not clearly stated on the coins and that they're called "dimes", "quarters" and "nickels" cause a lot of confusion in the beginning.
As for the statement that the composite 1- and 2-Euro coins may fall apart easily in the freezer, I have to say that some European countries have had composite coins before and that I have not seen any coin where this has happened.
where's all that Karma?
Actually, this type of thing also happened a few years ago in Canada, with the $2 coin. It had an inner, gold coloured part and an outer, silver coloured part. Coins from the first press could have the middle part punched out fairly easily (without needing to put them in the freezer). You can (and I know someone who does) wear the outer part on a chain around your neck, as a souvenir of the Canadian Mint's ineptitude.
It's the bills. As a blind person I get around the coins well enough but have trouble with the bills. I think they should have different edges and sizes, too.
I tried taking the two coins to my hand, shaking them around a bit and then putting them on a table. As soon as I pull my hand from over the coins, I can tell which is the 5 cent one and which is the 10 cent one. I tried this in a few different lighting conditions but the result is always the same.
The spanish euro coins shouldn't be different from finnish ones, so either I was misdiagnosed or the research is inaccurate. As the plates by Dr. Ishihara are supposed to be a very reliable test, I can't place much credibility on the results of the abovementioned research.
... had no problem distinguishing between Euro coin denominations. As you point out, the edges are quite distinctive and the sizes vary. He could distinguish them, and sort them, in seconds, in like groupings.
:)
He's not just color blind.
Get off my virtual lawn, you damned virtual kids!
Sweden's notes are distinguishable by size, aspect ratio, and color.
For nice to look at money, Finland's now defunct Markka was a good example.
Great for blind, color blind or the disoriented, drunk tourist. The EU money clearly suffers from designed by committee syndrome. The committee should look more closely at the good examples when they have to redo the design of the money.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
Hey, the guy in charge of the EU currency probably thought that they were the same color! ;)
You quitting proves that the karma kap worked. The most annoying of the whores shut up. --CmdrTaco
But the Euro coins can be most easily distinguished by taste. Really.
The higher valued coins taste more sweet, but the lowers valued one more salty.
I'm from Europe - I know what I'm talking about.
Owner of a Mensa membership card.
Has anyone accidentally put one any Euro coins through the wash?
The gold coins develop this brownish hue and the bronze coins get this weird sheen. Now I'm not one to question our ECB masters, but one would think that they'd have run these thing through the was with a few different washing powders before unleashing them upon us.
The 5 notes are also crap. They seem to be tearing up very easily.
--gzl
(Damnit! I selected "underrated" but Konq munged it to Redundant. Replying here to undo the bad mod.)
--
I don't want to rule the world... I just want to be in charge of mayonnaise.
Based on the foolproof new EU diagnostic medical procedures, I am sorry to inform you that you have terminal chlamydia, and have 6 weeks to live.
Oh yes, and you're color blind...
Please, read the original article in www.opticsexpress.org, since in it is not said that the currencies are indistingibles, it is only said that the color coins are perceived equal by the color-blind people.
In addition one specifies that all the degrees of color blindness do not confuse the currencies, but yes the strong ones. The special interest of the work is in which the currencies of euro serve as a cheap test (the Ishihara Test plates are expensives) and simple (in the tests of detection based on reflection the conditions of illumination influence much, being due for carrying out in specific places and or personal specialized).
This test does not try to replace the profesional test, it is an aid for one first simple detection and within reach of anyone.