Degradation in Dynamic Color Discrimination with Waveguide-Based Augmented Reality Displays

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate degradation in human color perception that can occur when using augmented reality displays.Background: Stereoscopic augmented reality displays are known to degrade a user’s ability to interpret projected color information. However, a quantitative breakdown of this degradation does not exist for contemporary augmented reality displays that use waveguide optical combiners.Method: Participants performed the Ishihara color test and an augmented reality-focused variant of the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 test on color perception using a set of commercially available augmented reality displays (Microsoft HoloLens, Magic Leap One, and DAQRI Smart Glasses).Results: From our analysis of participant performance, we generated specifications to maximize color discrimination and highlighted common areas of difficulty for each headset.Conclusions: We defined a novel aware modification to a gold-standard test of color discrimination that accounts for spatial color distortion along the lens an AR display. The optimal color usage across displays will vary based on the design of the optical combiner, which necessitates a re-usable color test to characterize color degradation on each headset design.Applications: The design guidelines specified in this article will minimize the degradation in color perception when using augmented reality displays, allowing them to be used in domains that require fine color discrimination.