Modifying Image Appearance to Improve Information Content for Color Blind Viewers

Color blindness is the inability to distinguish the differences between the certain colors and this condition results from an absence of color-sensitive pigment in the cone cells of the retina. Persons with color-blindness face many problems in day today life because of not able to recognize the color information present in traffic light, road signs etc. There are various types of color blindness. In this paper we propose color transformation algorithms to improve the accessibility for the color deficient viewers. In Particular, defects like protanopia and deutranopia, a type of dichromacy where a person does not naturally develop "Red", or Long wavelength and "Green" or Medium wavelength cones in their eyes is taken care. This algorithm when applied to the original image and after some processing provides satisfactory output image that is distinguishable by color deficient viewers. Algorithms namely LMS Color Space and Thresholding and Masking Algorithm are used in this work.