Museum glasses help colorblind visitors see exhibits in full color

MCA Chicago is offering free EnChroma glasses to visitors with color vision deficiency.

There’s a trend of museums making an effort to let their displays be as inclusive and accessible as possible. We have already seen touchable 3D paintings for blind visitors and telepresence robots for bedridden art lovers. Now, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is offering free EnChroma glasses to colorblind visitors — enabling them to see the artworks in full color.

Nearly five percent of the world’s population are colorblind, meaning they are unable to distinguish between certain colors. The most common form of color vision deficiency prevents sufferers distinguishing between red and green, because their photopigments have more overlap than normal. EnChroma glasses simulate restored color definition to the wearer by filtering the perceived image through the tinted lenses, which contain multi-notch filters that help to separate the colors.

The glasses were supplied to MCA Chicago by paint manufacturer Vaspar, as part of the Color for All campaign. They can be seen in action, worn by the museum’s Director of Communications Matthew Renton amongst others in a short promotion video. Where else could this technology be used?