Colour vision deficiency (CVD) is a genetic disorder of colour vision that affects 7.4% of European males and 0.4% of European females. Although there are reliable tests for diagnosing CVD in adults and older children, there are only a few tests for young children, and fundamental issues with these tests render them unreliable. For example, colours used in the tests are too similar for young children to discriminate given their immature colour vision, tasks are too difficult for them to complete, tests either over- or under-diagnose CVD, or are not widely accessible. Therefore, the current situation is that CVD can be reliably diagnosed only from about 5 years onwards. Earlier diagnosis would enable steps to be taken to ensure CVD children are not disadvantaged in early years education that relies on colour coded schemes and materials. The goal of the ERC Proof of Concept ‘COLOURTEST’ project was to develop, evaluate and bring to market an age-appropriate early years test for CVD. The project has drawn on colour, vision and developmental science, and the skills of a company who develop apps for the early years. This has enabled us to develop an early years CVD test in the form of an app which we have named ‘ColourSpot’. The project has tested over 400 pre-schoolers (2-4 years) and school children (4-7 years) on the app as well as a sample of adults. Our testing has established that the app is identifying CVD in the early years better than currently available tests, with a prevalence rate of what would be expected on the basis of the genetics of CVD. The project has also demonstrated the technical feasibility of ColourSpot by demonstrating that tablets can be calibrated for sufficiently accurate colour rendering for use in CVD diagnosis. Finally, the project has benefitted from the input of the Sussex Innovation Centre who have conducted market research and developed a commercialisation and marketing strategy for ColourSpot. The project has laid the foundation for ColourSpot to be used to identify CVD in the early years. This is the first step in minimising any disadvantage that children with CVD may experience in education and daily life.
