The problem with using CIELab colorspace is that as that wikipedia page says, its hard to covert from RGB to it, since rgb is device dependent. I guess you could call those formulas above a crude adjustment of sorts. Not truly as perceived, but since green seems to contribute to perceived brightness more than blue, it makes sense (at least to me) to weight it more heavily than blue.

But do realize that if the signal wasn't there before, a color change won't make a big difference.

Yeah, that's probably true. I can't confirm nor deny it with personal experience, but it does seem like something as simple as weighting the color bands shouldn't have a game-changing effect.

I'm interested to see what approaches you might have in mind for OP. You seem to be knowledgeable in this field.