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Association between Color Vision Deficiency and Police Officer Tasks in South Korea: A Prospective Pilot Study
Young Hee Jung1,2, Kyungsik Kim3, Li Lyung Wang4
1Department of Neurology, Myongji Hospital, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Goyang, Korea.
Yonsei Medical Journal
|October 27, 2025
Summary
Color vision deficiency (CVD) impacts police task performance, even in mild cases. Clinical color vision tests correlate with simulation outcomes, aiding in assessing job suitability for individuals with CVD.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Forensic Science
- Human Factors
Background:
- Color vision deficiency (CVD) affects a significant portion of the population.
- Assessing the impact of CVD on occupational performance is crucial, particularly in safety-critical roles like policing.
- Standardized color vision tests are used for screening, but their real-world applicability in specific job tasks requires validation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between standard color vision tests and performance in police-related simulation tasks.
- To evaluate how color vision deficiencies (CVDs) affect performance in tasks such as identifying bloodstains, traffic lights, and analyzing dashboard camera footage.
- To assess the agreement between different clinical color vision tests.
Main Methods:
- Recruited participants with and without CVDs, classifying CVD participants into mild, severe, and color blindness subgroups.
- Administered police-related simulation tests (bloodstain identification, traffic light test, dashboard camera analysis) and clinical color vision tests.
- Statistically analyzed associations between color vision tests and simulation performance, and assessed inter-test agreement.
Main Results:
- Participants with mild CVD performed significantly worse on traffic light and dashboard camera analysis simulations compared to controls (p<0.05).
- No significant difference in bloodstain identification test scores was found between control and CVD groups (p=0.190).
- The Ishihara test showed the strongest association with anomaloscope results, followed by Hardy-Rand-Rittler, Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue, and Farnsworth D-15 tests.
Conclusions:
- Clinical color vision tests correlate with performance in police-related simulation tasks.
- Even mild CVD can impair performance in critical police tasks like traffic sign recognition and analyzing dashboard camera recordings.
- The findings support the use of specific color vision tests in assessing the suitability of individuals with CVD for police work.
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