Individual color matches and cone spectral sensitivities in 100 observers of varying age

Previously we reported color matches measured in young adults using a newly developed multi-wavelength LED-based visual trichromator with which we estimated their individual L-, M- and S-cone spectral sensitivities. Here, we extend those measurements to include 70 additional observers aged between 8 to 80 years. As in our previous work, a series of color matching measurements were made to a reference white. Since the spectral power distributions (SPDs) of the matches should produce identical L-, M- and S-cone excitations, we can use them to estimate individual cone spectral sensitivities by fitting an extended version of the CIE physiological observer model (CIEPO06) in which the lens and macular pigment densities, the photopigment optical densities and the L- and M-cone spectral positions can be varied. Overall, the fits were found to be broadly consistent with the CIEPO06 mean standard, but with small spectral shifts of the M- and L-cone photopigments and a denser macular pigment. Older observers exhibited greater inter-, but not intra-observer, variability in their matches.