Clearspeech: A Display Reader for the Visually Handicapped

Author

Morris, Tim ; Blenkhorn, Paul ; Crossey, Luke ; Ngo, Quang ; Ross, Martin ; Werner, David ; Wong, Christina

Author_Institution

Sch. of Informatics, Sch. of Informatics, Manchester

Volume

14

Issue

4

fYear

2006

Firstpage

492

Lastpage

500

Abstract

Many domestic appliances and much office equipment is controlled using a keypad and a small digital display. Programming such devices is problematical for the blind and visually handicapped. In this paper, we describe a device that may be used to read the displays on these devices. The device is designed to accept a description of the display being read, which specifies the types and locations of elements of the display. Images are captured using a handheld webcam. Images are processed to remove the distortions due to the camera orientation. The elements of the screen are interpreted and a suitable audio output is generated. In suitably illuminated scenes, the display data is interpreted correctly in approximately 90% of the cases investigated

Keywords

handicapped aids; vision defects; Clearspeech; display reader; handheld webcam; visually handicapped; Auditory displays; Cameras; Computer displays; Consumer products; Costs; Home appliances; Layout; Liquid crystal displays; Microwave devices; Microwave ovens; Assistive devices; audio interpretation; display reader; Automatic Data Processing; Communication Aids for Disabled; Data Display; Humans; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; Pilot Projects; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; User-Computer Interface; Vision Disorders;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1534-4320

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNSRE.2006.881538

Filename

4032752