The original AO HRR color vision test has been considered by many as one of the best plate tests. It is still accepted by many governmental agencies for color vision certification. In their 1954 publication, Hardy, Rand, and Rittler stated that specially compounded inks were used for printing to avoid color changes with time. Fifty years later, it is both important and interesting to determine whether the wear and tear cause significant color changes. The chance finding of a never-used second edition offers an opportunity to evaluate the color changes. A GretagMacbeth Spectrolino spectrophotometer was used to measure the chromaticities of the never-used book, and an extensively used book. Four plates (#4, 7, 13, 16), selected randomly from the four red-green sections, were analyzed. The colored dots from each of the eight plates were plotted on a CIE chromaticity diagram. Isocolor lines were drawn to evaluate chromatic alignment. Chromaticities for plates #4 and 7 are significantly different between the two books. With regard to alignment with isocolor lines, the extensively used book is better than the never-used book for plate #4. There is significant misalignment on plate #7 for both books. Chromaticities for plates #13 and 16 are essentially identical between books, all with good alignment with isocolor lines. The overall comparison shows that the chromatic alignment characteristics of the extensively used book are not worse than the never-used book. Since colors in these plates have to be aligned with both the protan and deutan axes, any significant color changes would have disturbed this delicate requirement. The findings of many plates with good alignment, and the lack of differences on plates #13 and 16 between books, suggest that there are no significant color changes over time. Differences between books on plates #4 and 7 were likely the result of the original printing process.

The HRR pseudoisochromatic plate (pip) test was originally designed as a screening and diagnostic test for color vision deficiencies. The original HRR test is now long out of print. We evaluate here the new 4th edition of the HRR test, produced in 2002 by Richmond Products. The 2002 edition was compared to the original 1955 edition for a group of subjects with normal color vision and a group who had been previously diagnosed as having color vision deficiencies. The color deficient subjects spanned the range of severity among people with red-green deficiencies except for one individual who had a mild congenital tritan deficiency. The new test compared favorably with the original and in at least two areas, outperformed it. Among subjects with deutan defects the classification of severity correlated better with the anomaloscope results than the original; all the subjects who were classified as dichromats on the anomaloscope were rated as “severe” on the new HRR, while those diagnosed as anomalous trichromats were rated as mild or medium on the new test. Among those with moderate and severe defects the new test was highly accurate in correctly categorizing subjects as protan or deutan. In addition, a mild tritan subject made a tritan error on the new test whereas he was misdiagnosed as normal on the original.