Comparison of the effectiveness of the Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue Computerized test against its standard manual version.

Abstract

As a part of the optometric care, visual test are applied to evaluate the sensitivity to colors, the purpose of which was to detect abnormalities in the perception of colors and the diagnosis of color anomalies. One of the tests mostly used in clinic is the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Manual Test, and is known as the gold standard since the 1950s. The Colblindor website, in 2006, proposed the computerized version of this same test, which tends to be cheaper and faster than the manual test, and would be an advantage in the primary analysis of color perception. In consideration of this, the group of researchers from the Medical Optometry Career at UNAN-Managua, were requested to verify the effectiveness of the computerized test and its response against the gold standard, in order to explore the possibility of implementing it in the Optometry Clinic that provides services within the School of Medicine. To substantiate this objective, the two versions of the test were carried out to 105 students. To fulfill the goals, an observational, descriptive, correlational, quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to guarantee the homogeneity of the sample. Once the results were obtained and analyzed, it evidenced that the manual computerized test cannot be replaced by the computerized version as a test of chromatic perception analysis.

Key words: color perception, color, colour anomalies, test.