Validity of Clinical Color Vision Tests for Air Traffic Control Specialists

Details

• Creators:
  Mertens, Henry W. ; Milburn, Nelda J.
• Corporate Creators:
  Civil Aeromedical Institute
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Office of Aviation Medicine
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Air traffic controllers
  • Color vision
  • Vision tests
  • Performance tests
  • Validity
  • Signal lights
  • Selection and appointment
  • Human subject testing
  • Red
  • Green
  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT/FAA/AM-92/29
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
• Abstract:
  An experiment on the relationship between aeromedical color vision screening test performance and performance on color-dependent tasks of Air Traffic Control Specialists was replicated to expand the data base supporting the job-related validity of the screening tests. The original experiment (Mertens, 1990; n=108), and the replication (n=136) involved a total of 121 normal trichromats, 31 simple and 44 extreme anamalous trichromats, and 48 dichromats; both protans and deutans were included. ; The simulations of ATCS color tasks which served as validation criteria were flight progress strips (en route centers), aircraft lights and the Aviation Signal Light indicator (ATC terminal operations), and color weather radar (flight service station and en route center facilities). The validities (Kappa) of aeromedical screening tests ranged from 0.44 to 0.91 for prediction of error free performance on all color dependent tasks. The aeromedical screening tests were generally acceptable in terms of selecting individuals who did not make errors, but several tests had high false alarm rates. The high job-related validity of several aeromedical color vision tests was confirmed.
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/21400/dot_21400_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 495.48 KB]
• Collection(s):
  FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1ebe7588bd5f4d78e1896d018fe87b413f7b841e1bba6fbd116c6a8630984e486ac7d1bdc359da8e3a1b76be4c2b8475ba39ca455c66bdb0f88cb8e02c27ec5b