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."

Comments

Score one for the EU

[photon317]

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...

So I'm not color-blind after all?

[jahalme]

I was diagnosed with a red-green color-blindness of moderate severity during my military service. I just couldn't make out the correct numbers hidden in the test plates with dotted images. However, I have absolutely no problems whatsoever separating 5 and 10 cent coins from one another.

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.