“…the Oxy-Iso lens blew me away. All of a sudden, the numbers just appeared on the screen!” Debra Miller Arbesman. And… “Your O2Amp glasses just nearly eliminated my wife’s color blindness! It was incredible to watch her take those tests.” Samuel Arbesman, scientist, author of Half-Life of Facts, writer for WIRED
“Putting on the Oxy-Iso lenses is almost scary as it reveals clear and intentional color differences that I could not see at all. It reveals something everyone sees but me.” Luke Harrington
“I wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed using your eyewear, especially the Oxy-Iso glasses. I now use them in all of my leg vein procedures . Being color blind makes finding deeper (reticular) cutaneous veins a challenge; the Oxy-Iso eyewear makes them much easier to see.” Daniel Friedmann, MD, Cosmetic Dermatologic Surgery
“I found the red one [the purple Oxy-Iso] to be useful (or, at least, the one that my wife tells me is red!). It makes many colors more vivid, although what looks white without them has just the slightest tinge of pink through the lens. Compared to the other two, it’s much closer to what I have imagined that “normal” people see, and the colors match up with what I’m told they are.” Russell Belding
Buy them at Amazon.
Last year, as our O2Amp technology got into the hands of more and more users (mainly interested in their various medical applications), we began hearing back from many color-blind folk. One of our three technologies, they told us, gave them the surprising ability to distinguish reds and greens, exactly what their color-deficiency prevented them from seeing without our eyewear. In particular, the color-enhancing benefit came from our Oxy-Iso filter, which amplifies and isolates perception of oxygenation variations. Although we didn’t design our technology with color-deficients specifically in mind, we weren’t too surprised that the Oxy-Iso may help with with red-green color-deficiency. As I have argued in my research and my earlier book, Vision Revolution, our human variety of color vision evolved — above and beyond that found in other mammals — in order to sense these oxygenation variations, allowing us to sense color-signals on the skin (including blushes, blanches, as well as sensing health). So the Oxy-Iso filter concentrates its enhancement exactly where red-green color-blind folk are deficient.
Now Professor Daniel Bor, a red-green color-blind neuroscientist at the University of Sussex and author of The Ravenous Brain, has independently carried out experiments on himself to gauge the extent to which the Oxy-Iso is an aid. The results are very encouraging, helping us better grasp its benefits, and also its limitations. Below I have reproduced his testimonial and the results of his experiment.
RED-GREEN ENHANCEMENT — ISHIHARA PLATE TEST
This first communication occurred after Dan received the set of three distinct O2Amp eyewear technology (and, note, he was not informed that it is the Oxy-Iso, and not the other two technologies, where we expected a benefit for color-deficients):
“I’ve just received a couple of special specs to attempt to reduce my colour blindness, from Mark Changizi and O2Amp. When I first put one of them on [the Oxy-Iso,], I got a shiver of excitement at how vibrant and red lips, clothes and other objects around me seemed. I’ve just done a quick 8 plate Ishihara colour blindness test. I scored 0/8 without the specs (so obviously colour blind), but 8/8 with them on (normal colour vision)! I’m pretty thrilled and can’t wait to explore more of the world with the specs over the next few days.”
We’ve found similarly thrilled responses from many other color-deficients as well (for a sample, see the quotes at the start of this piece).
Later, Dan carried out more formal experiments with the Ishihara plates…
In terms of formal tests, the Ishihara plates are a radical change. I did this online test of the 38 Ishihara plates: http://www.colblindor.com/ishihara-38-plates-cvd-test/ . Without [the Oxy-Iso], I scored almost nothing, but with the specs got all the answers correct, I think.
The Oxy-Iso appears to bring unambiguous red-green enhancement to color-deficients.
And, it even does so for the perception of oxygenation in the skin — “And definitely the glasses still work, even with me, for their original purpose of enhancing the appearance of veins,” writes Dan — meaning that the Oxy-Iso should aid the (red-green) color-blind in their perception of emotional and health states in others. Color-blind doctors have long been known to be handicapped at sensing health states, see Supplementary Table 1 here.
OXY-ISO‘s COLOR DEFICITS IN OTHER AREAS
Our Oxy-Iso filter enhances red-green discriminations for color-deficients, but it does not do so without some compromises elsewhere in vision. We can see this clearly in Dan’s report…
“Having worn them for the evening, other parts of the spectrum definitely suffer – for instance, I thought the lime green light on the baby monitor was off when it was on. No problems seeing it when I took the specs off. But even if, having tried the specs for a few days (and especially outside in good daylight) I decide they aren’t worth permanent use, it’s been absolutely fantastic to get some temporary sense, for part of the spectrum, of what normal people see. For instance, having firmly believed that the light is green on the microwave I’ve had for 18 years, I’ve now discovered it is in fact blue.”
and
“My own experience with these specs is kind of similar to the formal results [see below]. Putting the specs on for the first time, I was amazed at how some colours really stood out for me. Lips usually almost seem similar to skin colour for me. But now they were so much more red and had a far greater contrast. Anything red was so much more vibrant and bright to me. Blue as well looked far more blue at times, especially if it previously had a greeny tinge to it for me. This was all very exciting. But also some colours looked a bit wrong. A yellowy-green light on my daughter’s baby monitor, easily seen without my specs, was now completely invisible. So some shades of yellow seemed to disappear with the specs, and so it was always clear to me that I had gained some part of the spectrum, but completely lost others, and on balance I kind of felt that I’d lost more than I’d gained. These wouldn’t be specs I’d wear all the time. But if I went to an art gallery or something like that, I’d definitely bring them with to wear then.”
This is important to emphasize: The Oxy-Iso filter amplifies the red-green discriminations color-deficients are lacking, but does so at the expense of their intact color perception and yellow-blue discrimination. In a sense, the Oxy-Iso spreads the color confusion more evenly around the color-wheel, rather than having it concentrated only on red-green. And, in this regard, the eyewear should not be worn when driving, because, for example, yellow lights will become nearly invisible.
[Note that our Oxy-Amp filter (see O2Amp) enhances color vision for color-normals, and does so not at the expense of other areas of color perception. Unlike the Oxy-Iso, the Oxy-Amp blocks only narrow wavelength bands of light responsible for noise coming from the oxygenation signals from skin. The Oxy-Amp provides a strict improvement to color vision for color-normals.]
FARNSWORTH-MUNSELL TEST
The Ishihara test helps gauge one’s deficits in discriminating between reds and greens, but doesn’t tell us what’s happening to color perception more broadly. From Dan’s (and other’s) first-person experience, it is obvious that other aspects of color perception are hindered by the Oxy-Iso, as we just saw above. To get clearer on these deficits, Dan took what is called the Farnsworth-Munsell test…
“So I got one of my interns to do a proper Farnsworth-Munsell test in the lab with the physical discs, so this should be much more reliable. That was surprisingly disappointing. Without the specs I scored 116, so clearly in the colour-blind range, but with the specs I scored 108, only slightly better and still very much within the colour-blindness range. I’ve attached the graphs of my pre (no specs) and post (specs) results on this test for you to have a look at.
Remember, this test measures one’s overall deficit in color. Because the Oxy-Iso enhances red-green discrimination but at the expense of yellow-blue discriminations, it is not too surprising that the overall score here is not too much different.
The Oxy-Iso‘s ability to somewhat spread red-green color-deficient’s deficits more uniformly around the color wheel is visible in the plots of Dan’s experiment. This first plot below shows where he has trouble making color-discriminations with his naked eye, and one can see two regions opposite one another where he has trouble, characteristic of (one variety of) red-green deficiency.
With the Oxy-Iso eyewear on, however, the characteristic red-green deficit is dampened considerably, but now there are new deficits (especially in the yellow regions), as you can see in the plot below. Compared to the plot above, the one below looks more rounded and evenly distributed.
And below are the above two plots combined into a single plot, for better comparison (courtesy Santiago Ortiz of http://moebio.com).
THE FUTURE
With the caveats and limitations in mind, the Oxy-Iso provides many red-green color-blind people with a revelatory insight into a perceptual dimension they have thus far lacked, the emotional and vitality-laced perceptual color dimension that is new to us humans and some other primates.
~~~
Some press stories on the O2Amp and colorblindness: Scientific American / Txchnologist, Slashdot, Diffusion Radio, io9, The Times UK [subscription], BBC, Discovery News, Daily Mail UK, New Scientist, Smart Planet, CBC, Unexplained Mysteries, Telegraph, Voice of Russia, Geek Chic Mama, NY Daily News, GizMag, The Argus, Elite Daily, Columbia Chronicle, Under the Gun, Today, PopSci, ABC News “This Could Be Big”, Parade I, Parade II.
~~~
Mark Changizi is Director of Human Cognition at 2AI, a managing director of O2Amp, and the author of Harnessed: How Language and Music Mimicked Nature and Transformed Ape to Man and The Vision Revolution. He is finishing up his new book, HUMAN 3.0, a novel about our human future, and working on his next non-fiction book, FORCE OF EMOTION.
Saw this on Discovery News.. they mentioned issues where some colors end up washing out. I wonder if optimal color-blind remediation would be if you used only one lens – one eye ‘corrected’, and the other eye not. It would look pretty funky but if it is critical..
Definitely doing it in this “stereo” style is one option. We do have individual lenses that can be purchased, and then one could go to one’s local optician and get one put in, and anything else in the other. If interested, contact sales@o2amp.com and our team will describe the cost.
How can I try these lenses? This looks like an important development.
Our beta-test period occurred back in November, and we had to put a cap on it. I hope you get an opportunity to see the Oxy-Iso. http://o2amp.com
If the colour filter was invisibly striped or spotted on a clear background rather than continuous, would that allow red/green to be visible without losing the other colours?
Much better, I think, to try it stereoscopically. …that is, one eye with the Oxy-Iso, and the other eye with a normal lens.
Yes, I recalled my contact lens experience wearing two different strength lenses a few seconds after my post! However the cosmetic result probably isn’t as acceptable. (I suppose both lenses might be mirror-finished but that is a bit anti-social!) Coloured contacts might work better especially if the colour could be kept just to the centre area of a clear lens.
Im excited this has come out and my dad gave me the daily mail newspaper and it was in there about it.Where can i purchase the red /green colour blindness glasses? straight off your website. well done.
Glad you found it. Best, -Mark
Dear doctor Changizi,
First be patient, pls, because my english is poor like my colour perception.
I’m writing from Italy and I’m 58 years old.
I’ve just read your post and I’m very thrilled.
I discovered my colour-blindness 35 years ago when I tried to get a job on the Italian Railways. The doc presented us Ishihara tables and other peoples did say 58! 35! 8!.
When became my turn I was able to say only “boh” (Italian slang to say “O my God! I don’t know”).
Then I did a Farnswoth test and the veredict was “discromatopsy”.
I’m able to read only the very first Ishihara table.
I ever seen the colours but at that point I was no more sure if the colour I did call “Red” could be the same Red other people see.
That’s because I’m intriguing: for the first time in my life I could have a chance to see some colours more near the real.
I’ve read that your Oxy-iso are not all-time wearable but in my job (sysadmin, computer expert) recognize the wires colour could be usefull 😉
I know that you are not the producer of that filters but maybe you could know where in Italy I could try it before buy (they are a bit expensive to buy without a try).
Thank you for the chance you gave us dischromatoptic people.
Best regards.
Mauro
Hi Mauro,
Unfortunately we don’t have an Italy distributor at this time. I do note that we have a full refund policy.
Sincerely,
-Mark
Do you plan to apply that Oxy-iso filter on optical lenses (I wear everyday multifocal photochromatic glasses) maybe as that ridiculous (ops…) Polaroid filter?
Thank you.
Mauro
We are moving toward getting our technology on prescription lenses, but that may be a long way off still.
(For our Oxy-Amp lens, not the Oxy-Iso, we have polarized normal-gray sunwear versions now.)
-Mark
Something like that?
http://www.eschenbach-optik.com/it/Filters.458.0.html?&L=7&cHash=8f504f71f4&tt_products=29201#
It could be useful for all people like us wearing all kind of glasses.
Thank you, DOC.!
Mauro, We now have prescription-ready blanks. See http://o2amp.com , left side.
It would be nice to make this as a bifocal. So you wouldnt lose your yellow blue for normal use but could look through the bifocal portion of the glasses and see the colors you normally could not.
We’ve thought about this, but do not have this option at the moment.
How do I purchase these glasses? My father is red green colour blind and is turning 73. I would love for him to experience colour. I am in Australia.
Hi. The Oxy-Iso can be purchased at http://o2amp.com Sincerely, -Mark Changizi
Dear Doctor Changizi,
I am from Indonesia, recently I just realized about my color blind. I can still distinguish colors in general. But I failed most of ishihara color test. I have no idea what other problem of my eyes, my vision is not 20/20 even if I wear glasses. Have checked with a lot of top doctors in Singapore, Mayo Clinic and Jules Stein Eye Institute in LA, but couldnt figure out what is wrong with my eyes. From the scan, we figured out I have a weak nerves in the eye. And we figured I have a mild color blind. Its hard for me to read text printed on neon boxes, tv’s subtitle, bright background and need time to distinguish red and green light when driving. So after read about your new glasses that can help color blind, I really wish to buy from you and test it. But could you please guide me, how and which one should I buy? Thanks a lot.
Hi Bruno,
It is the Oxy-Iso that you want. http://o2amp.com
-Mark
Thanks a lot doctor. Will do asap thanks.
Dear Doctor Changizi,
my English is poor . please try to understand .i am a artist (i like to do painting ). i have genetic color blindness between red and green . lenses will solve my problem 100%? and which one ?thanks u so much.
We believe the ‘Oxy-Iso’ should help. Sincerely, -Mark Changizi, http://o2amp.com
Hi Mark,
I know I’m a bit boring 😦 but …
It’s possible to buy only the lenses Oxy-iso instead the whole glasses?
I think that the best solution for me could be a clip Polaroid-like I could wear over my glasses. I will ask him but I guess my optical shop master is able to build it.
Thank you, you are very helpfull, also thanks to Internet giving us the big opportunity to speak directly to Oxy-iso dad (c:
All my best.
Mauro
Hi Mauro,
Our Oxy-Iso cuts out a good bit of light, which means you’ll want a dark sun lens (i.e., from any old regular sunglasses) over the other eye to give better light balance.
However, I might recommend that you experience the Oxy-Iso with both eyes first, where you’ll have the best chance to experience the effect, and to get used to it. I’m worried that if your first experiences are done using a less tried-out stereo approach, you may not have as much success.
If you do wish to proceed on buying the individual lens, please contact Alex at sales@o2amp.com , and he will describe how to buy it through Amazon (he will give you a code).
Sincerely,
-Mark Changizi
Hi Mark,
Uhm … I perfectly understand when you write “I’m worried that if your first experiences are done using a less tried-out stereo approach, you may not have as much success.”
In effect to buy without have a chance to try before isn’t a good way.
On the other hand, as that kind of miraculous lenses do not cost as chips and I don’t live so close to you to say “O, this afternoon I have nothing to do so I will go to visit Dr. Mark and will wear his lenses and maybe will purchase them” 🙂
For these reasons and for other ideas that you have turned on in my mind, I will write an email to Alex for you as you have suggested to me.
After reading my email if you feel is important to continue, we could develop the topic.
Wait for my mail 😉
Sincerely,
Mauro
(my english is poor ) hi , i want to purchase ‘Oxy-Iso’ .but i want to try before purchase.can you tell me, how many days it will take to these lenses available in india. i am waiting for that.
thank you !!
Hi. An order of our technology will make it to India within eight business days. (Once it gets to your own country, we can’t control how long it takes.)
As for beta-testing, we had to cap that back in November.
The Oxy-Iso can be purchased at http://o2amp.com
Sincerely,
-Mark
Hi. I have just purchase some colour blind glasses in australia at great expense, and I am please with them, but too a point. I cannot see green as well. Do your glasses do this as well or can you see green brighter. I may look at purchasing yours if the green is a brighter colour. There are three colour glasses on your site, which ones are the ones for red/green colour blind glasses.
Hi John,
The Oxy-Iso is the eyewear that helps with colorblindness. It works by severely enhancing perception of oxygenation, the signal that our red-green color vision evolved to sense. But in order to do this it handicaps our sense of the other blood dimension we can see, blood concentration. The result is that the eyewear can reduce many yellows and greens, depending on the spectral nature of the objects. With greater fine-tuning in the future, we hope to offer more than one “level”, so that a future version might not handicap one in this way, although it may also not be quite so effective at revealing discriminations along the red-green dimension. There are always trade-offs, I’m afraid.
(For curiosity sake, you may try the Oxy-Amp, the light-pink lens you received (for training purposes, included originally for medical users).)
Sincerely,
-Mark
you mean “reduce many yellows and blues” ?
Hi Thomas,
See my reply to Brian below, and John above.
-Mark
Hi Mark,
You state above it reduces our perceptions of yellows and greens. Did you mean to say yellows and blues or is there a reduction in greens?
The Oxy-Iso hinders perception of variations in hemoglobin concentration under the skin, and thereby amplifies perception of variations of the other blood signal we can see, oxygenation (the one we primates evolved to see, I argue in my research).
In hindering perception of variations in hemoglobin concentration, it amounts to hindering our evolutionarily more-ancient yellow-blue channel, and amplifies the newer red-green channel. In particular, it hinders the “yellow end” of the yellow-blue channel.
But it is not so simple as saying that only pure yellow is hindered. Yellow is, after all, just one tiny point along the hue circle. So, when yellow is hindered, nearby hues (greenish-yellow and orangeish-yellow) are also hindered.
And which objects *specifically* are muted will depend not just on their color (to a color-normal), but on how broad the distribution of light the object sends out. E.g., two objects can look identically green-yellow, say, but one have a super-narrow spectrum and the other have a super-broad one covering the entire visible spectrum. Although they look identical, when seen through a filter, they can look completely different. In some cases the narrow one can even be gone, or invisible, and the other one still quite there and colored.
In the case of the Oxy-Iso, for color-normals there *seems* to be in the world more greenish-yellows that are muted than orangeish-yellows, mostly having to do with the fact that there are lots more greenish-yellow things (grasses, leaves) than orangish-yellow things.
I hope this begins to help. In my experience, color vision is 50 times more complicated than one *thinks* it is.
Great and timely development. I’m looking to get a hold of these in the coming months when I’m able to save for it. I will be starting in a Physician Assistant program next summer. I was looking for an aid that might assist me with identifying changes in skin color that might not readily occur to me as easily as some of my counterparts. During the last eight years, I served as a combat medic in the Army and have treated a number of patients on and off the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan. When it came to conditions that involved changes in skin color (dermatological issues, pallor, erythema, etc., I relied more on other visual cues such as changes in size and texture, as well as other signs and symptoms. I’m not looking for a total game changer, but every little bit helps! If any red-green color deficient health care professionals can provide more feedback on these, I’d appreciate it. Thanks!
Hi Marvin,
Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately, our beta-test period ended in November, but we do hope that you have an opportunity to see them.
Here’s a reaction by a colorblind doctor: “”I wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed using your eyewear, especially the Oxy-Iso glasses. I now use them in all of my leg vein procedures. Being color blind makes finding deeper (reticular) cutaneous veins a challenge; the Oxy-Iso eyewear makes them much easier to see.” Daniel Friedmann, MD, Cosmetic Dermatologic Surgery
Sincerely,
-Mark Changizi
[…] people in an agitated state. Once the glasses were released, though, Changizi and his collaborators began hearing from color blind people who had put them on and experienced the world in an entirely new […]
Where can these glasses be purchased?
Hi Mike,
Our technology can be found and ordered through http://o2amp.com
-Mark
very excited my husband has red/green deficiency and works as a designer where color can be critical something like this would help him do his job better
I am pretty severe red/green/blue color blind. This is great news! Working with color for so many years (was a creative director in the past), I am not sure if this will throw off my abilities to pick color. You know I have always gravitated toward rose colored sunglass lenses as colors were more vibrant. I cannot wait to take these out for a test spin.
Thanks for all of the information Mark!
Thanks for reaching out. They can be bought at http://o2amp.com — on the left, under “Oxy-Iso”. Don’t hesitate to let me know your experience!
-Mark
Thank you very much for your time spent on colour research Dr Changizi.. But I think you might get even busier in the next 10-20 years.. I really hope you’ll get all the funding you’ll need to push this technology ahead.
REALLY excited to getting a pair of “Oxy-Iso”, however I wonder if the lens are military specs approved? Can I use them on the shooting range? Will you be working with Oakley’s?
I believe they are. However, please email our Alex Livingston at sales@o2amp.com , I think he’ll have more details on answering your question.
On Oakley, we are in conversations with them and others…
I plan to order myself a pair of the Oxy-Iso set once I have the funds, being one of the rare few who actually have full color blindness. After an incident when I was 13 where an asthma inhaler dehydrated me to the point that I actually went into shock. After that incident I lost my ability to perceive the color spectrum entirely, it would be such a treat to possibly perceive some differences once more in colors.
Despite my loss of color perception, I have actually kept up my old hobbies from before the incident where I do full color charcoal artwork and paintings where I have my parents or my girlfriend help me with the colors.
Hi Seth,
Oof. Sorry to hear. Now, if you’re fully red-green colorblind, then our Oxy-Iso won’t help you. It is those people who have a very very weak red-green channel that the technology can help, by amplifying the tiny signal too small for them to notice. So, I don’t want to get your expectations up. You could try, and return them if they don’t work, though. Best, -Mark Changizi
I can understand that, I am willing to accept that perhaps they wont be able to help me fully because of how I am fully color blind. However even if they can help me to perceive the difference in the color’s even if only shades it would be a welcome change. Thank you for the information as well, I figured that might be a possibility but anything that might help me to better enjoy the world around me would be such a blessing.
I was also curious if you are planning to make the glasses as clip on accessories that can be attached to say prescription glasses as well?
They can be purchased as lens blanks now (see under “Oxy-Iso” at http://o2amp.com ), and then you can take them to your local optometrist to get them cut for clip-ons or over-the-glasses frames. Best, -Mark
Seth,
I thought you may want to know that we at O2Amp now have prescription-grade lens blanks for our Oxy-Iso. One takes them to one’s optometrist to be ground to one’s prescription.
See http://o2amp.com (or straight to Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/Oxy-Iso-Colorblindness-Correction-Medical-Prescription-Grade/dp/B00I9FUTTA/ ).
(We also now have clip-ons, as seen at our site.)
All the best,
-Mark
—
Dr. Mark Changizi, changizi@2ai.org
Neuroscientist, http://www.changizi.com
Co-founder, http://o2amp.com
Hi Mr. Changizi,
Any idea when the O2AMP OPTICIANWEAR (the clear, prescription lenses) will be available? I’m really looking forward to this product hitting the market place so I can advance my career.
Kind Regards,
Waqar
Hi Waqar,
Unfortunately, the clear, prescription lens we’re working toward is for the “Oxy-Amp”, not the “Oxy-Iso” which is helpful for colorblindness. The Oxy-Iso can’t possibly made anywhere near clear. We *are* moving toward mirrored versions (we have prototypes), and right now you can buy lens blanks at our site, and bring them to your local optometrist to be cut for over-the-glasses frames or for clip-ons.
Sincerely,
-Mark
Dr. Mark Changizi
My story I am colored blind red green. I can not pass the Ishihara plate test.I have gotten tinted contact lenses to correct for the problem. one lens is magenta and the other is yellow. They help me pass the test but they restrict my overall vision quit a lot. They are un comfortable for me I know that millions of people use contacts daily, but they are not the option for me. My question is do you have any place within 500 miles from Maine where I can stop in and try your glasses? I would gladly drive to try them out and would buy 2 pair if they work the way everyone says. Thanks Dale
Hi Dale,
There are limitations to our eyewear as well, as I discuss in this piece here we’re commenting within. But, they are indeed not contact lenses, and so not uncomfortable for that reason. We don’t yet have locations near you, although we’re moving to have them more widely geographically available, rather than just through our O2Amp site.
Sincerely,
-Mark Changizi
Dr. Changizi, Hello – my daughter (11) is doing a color blindness science project. She ran into your site due to the research her brother is doing on pruney fingers. One of the areas she has grown interested in – and I thought you might have an informed opinion on – is the evolutionary qualities of colorblindness. According to the scientist she interviewed at the Chicago Museum of Science, rods are used for dark/light changes and movement. More over, if you are colorblind and missing a cone then your eye simply has replaced it with extra rods making the colorblind “movement enhanced”. Assuming this is accurate, would you consider male colorblindness less of a defect and potentially evolutionary enhancement for hunting or related low-light tracking activities?
Thank you and my daughter looks forward to any thoughts you have along these lines.
Warm regards,
Phil and Alessandra
Possibly! But, colorblindness’s rareness makes it difficult for one to push too hard at finding an adaptive explanation. Then again, in New World Primates (we’re Old World), *only* the females have color vision — all the males are red-green deficient. Could the better-motion-acuity argument be why? I’ve wondered also whether color vision, as it helps especially read the state / health of infants, could be of disproportionate benefit to mothers.
-Mark
Hi, I live in South Africa and am not sure if they are available here, can someone please send me the details of a supplier in the States, I would like to order a pair. thanks, Francis
Hi Francis,
At the moment the place to get them is through our O2Amp site. http://o2amp.com
Mark
Thank you Mark.
Hi Mark,
What would happen if one wears glasses with one of these lenses would you not see the red/green with one eye and the blue/yellow with the other and the brain will combine the two and give you all round color vision?
Francis.
Yup. Preferably to have on the other eye something that cuts a somewhat similar level of light, so that each eye sees the world as similarly bright. Makes it easier for the eyes to fuse into a single image. Some have bought the lens blanks, to get one cut into frames of their own (at their local optometrist), and the other lens as something else.
-Mark
Thank you Mark, I wear +1 glasses for working and reading so the one eye has a +1 lens and the other has the red/green lens, is that correct?
Francis.
That might work. Probably better to have the non-red/green lens be more of a sun-shade, so that each eye is at more equal brightness. But even if not, your eyes may be able to adjust.
Now the big question, would you make me a pair of lenses like you have explained because you understand what is required if I get a third party invilved something might get lost, I could have them set here on my medical aid but I think it better if both lenses come from you ?
Well, we could only provide the Oxy-Iso lens blanks. We don’t carry lens blanks for general sun-shade lenses. Your local (non-chain) optometrist should be able to help, though.
Thank you I shall order the lenses but could you maybe send me specifications for the other lens. I think maybe I should have 2 pairs made so both eyes get equal exposure to the red/green lens?
You’ll need to talk to an optometrist to find out whether to buy our 6-base or 8-base lens curves. It depends on the frame.
Let me know how your experiment fares. It may take some getting used to. And, you won’t have the advantage, initially, of just putting on the glasses and getting the full two-eye immersion. In principle, though, it sounds promising. (Others who have said they were interested in trying this have not yet reported back.)
-Mark
Thanks Mark, I shall ask my local optometrist and order the lenses. Keep you posted.
Francis.
Hi Mark,
My optometrist ordered the lenses, I tried them but unfortunately doing the color test it made no difference.
Best regards,
Francis
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
Hi Francis,
Sorry to hear. Some people’s colorblindness is too severe. There must be *some* red-green sensitivity, lest the technology have nothing to amplify.
To give another impression of what one sees, here’s a new review (in addition to those at Amazon): http://wearecolorblind.com/article/oxy-iso-glasses-review/
Sincerely,
-Mark
Mr changizi,
I have come across your discovery through an English Daily Newspaper The Telegraph,Kolkata,W.B,India.I want to purchase an oxy iso lense for colour blindness.How can I get it at India,Kolkata?
Hi. We take international orders through our site, http://o2amp.com , which will take you to an Amazon link.
Dr. Changizi,
this is so cool! My husband is red-green color blind, he works on research and does a lot of microscopy and imaging, so he struggles when taking an analyzing pictures, I read in one of your responses that this might not work if you’re a full red-green colorblind. How can we tell if these lenses would work on him? and where can we get the gray lenses, I was only able to find the pink ones online… This would make is work so much easier!! 🙂
Hi Monica,
To find out if one is fully colorblind, one should go to an optometrist or ophthalmologist. We do offer a full refund.
On gray, we’re moving toward gray, polarized sunglasses (we have prototypes), but at the moment that’s for our Oxy-Amp, not our Oxy-Iso.
In the future we may be moving toward gray-er and/or mirrored versions of the Oxy-Iso, but not quite yet, I’m afraid.
Sincerely,
-Mark
Hello team,
I recently sent an email to the info@ with a question and statement that I had always been interested in flying because my depth perception, and acute awareness have both very high scores. However I am colorblind, and I do understand the dangers. It is also dangerous to remove yellow-blue from the spectrum.
If I could vote on the bi-focals, then that would be something worth looking into. I also considered purchasing your Oxy-Iso lenses so I could create the bifocals on my own. Since the Military suggests “If the sight can be corrected through glasses or contacts which do not impair Military Equipment…” then it is acceptable to become a Warrant Officer and fly.
Therefore, I would be happy to invest in the lenses, especially if I were to become a soldier and could spot emotional differences in those who may be hiding their emotions under expressions.
Regardless of the possibilities, I want to thank you Dr. Changizi and your team for providing a woeful color-blind individual to follow his dreams of defying the impossible.
Sincerely,
Sean Perry.
Hello Dr. Changizi ,i am from Indonesia i have red green color blindness. I want to ask you, when do you launch it and when it arrived in Indonesia.
Thanks
Hi. We don’t have a distributor there, but you can purchase the Oxy-Iso at http://www.amazon.com/2AI-Labs-O2Amps-Oxy-Iso-optics/dp/B008LPFEDO/ref=aag_m_pw_dp?ie=UTF8&m=A26GTSHX5CEUUO (fulfilled by O2Amp), and we should be able to ship it there. Best, -Mark
Mr Changizi,
Did you have any feedback by miltary / police if one used these specs the would consider the colour blindness test a pass ? I have the oxy iso and they are great. 100% score. Fabulous.
Hi Chris,
We do have military folks wearing the Oxy-Iso for colorblindness correction. But I get the feeling — but do not know — that these guys are just using them for their own benefit, without having used them to pass a particular formal test.
Sincerely,
-Mark
It seems a little rude to call those who are colour blind lacking in perceptual dimension, just because they perceive colours differently. Those who are colour blind can identify shades of kaky clearer then those who are not and it is a problem that affects 10% of the male population including myself, it’s been said that they also have an increased perception of light. Try taking a reverse colour blindness test and see who is really the one lacking in perceptual depth. Someone who is daltonic like myself (moderately daltonic) can still perceive emotional and vitality-laced perceptual color dimension, they just perceive it differently in fact there have even been several colour blind artists, Van Gogh was thought to be blue colour blind. Personally I would not want to buy something like this if it risks permanently messing up my perception of blue and yellow? Is there any studies done on the potential long term affects of these studies and how they can affect people’s vision? There is also supposedly a custom made pair of glases offered by ColourMax which includes an evaluation for the total price of $8900,if anyone has any information on either of these and the potential long term affects please let me know.
“Lacking in perceptual dimension” is a technical term, in the sense that trichromats have three color dimensions: black-to-white, yellow-to-blue, and red-to-green. Dichromats have just the first two.
As a consequence, dichromats miss whole classes of distinctions out in the world. …including variations in oxygenation, which is an important cue for emotion and health.
But, sure, seeing the world as a dichromat does — as nearly all mammals see the world — is by no means “not deep”. And with a lower repertoire of colors, there can be some perceptual benefits in certain tasks, as you suggest.
On permanently messing up perception of yellow and blue, no, the Oxy-Iso will not permanently affect that perceptual dimension.
I am a Protan who can not see reds when they are mixed into colors. I have a light test where I need to be able to tell the difference between a white light, a red light, and a green light. The red is very easy for me to tell since it is so much darker than the others, however, the green and white lights look very similar. Will these glasses help me distinguish between the white and green?
Hi Mitchell,
Yes, the Oxy-Iso should help.
Note that for very specific tasks like this one, pretty much any filter is likely to help, because it will likely differentially modify the green and white lights. Our Oxy-Iso should help here, but more broadly.
Sincerely,
-Mark
Hi Sir,
Can i get these glasses on trial basis as i am in need of such glasses because of red green color blindness.
Sincerely,
Rajesh
Hi Rajesh,
I’m sorry, but our beta-testing period has ended (last November).
-Mark
[…] This article by one of the lens developers has a wealth of information about the science of the lenses and the strengths and limitations of the color correction. “The Oxy-Iso filter amplifies the red-green discriminations color-deficients are lacking, but does so at the expense of their intact color perception and yellow-blue discrimination. In a sense, the Oxy-Iso spreads the color confusion more evenly around the color-wheel, rather than having it concentrated only on red-green.” Personally I haven’t noticed any diminution of yellows and blues. […]
Hello,D-r Changizi!My name is Peter ,I am a Protan and want to buy your glasses.As a dear hunter ,I want to know if I will see better with them at long distances ,for example at 500-600 yards,because now I have problems with distinguishing the Roe dears at long distance.Thank you!
Hi Peter,
I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that. Please give it a try, and return them (for a full refund) if they don’t work well for that. And don’t forget to tell me what happens!
-Mark
Mr Changizi
Do you have an agent in Singapore where I can buy Oxy-Iso ?
Hi Rob, Happy to discuss. Best to email sales@o2amp.com Sincerely, Mark Changizi
And, if you’re interested in buying the Oxy-Iso, you’ll want the second of the two links inside here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B008LPFEDO/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new [the one for $304, which we will send to you ourselves]
Salut Olivier,
S’il vous plaît contactez-nous au sales@o2amp.com et nous pouvons envoyer le long de vous notre distributeur (et optométriste) taux.
Cordialement,
-Mark
EXISTEN ESTOS LENTES EN ARGENTINA?
No tenemos distribuidores allí todavía.
Usted puede comprarlos en línea en Amazon, a través de nuestros enlaces http://o2amp.com
Atentamente,
-Mark