Assistive Technology for the Blind - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Assistive

Technology for the Blind

Historical Background of Assistive Technologies for the Blind

Introduction

The

rapid development of assistive technologies for the blind and visually impaired has evolved simultaneously with other technological innovations. Thanks to these advances, the facilitation of accessibility, safety and improved quality of life has made life easier for the visually impaired and blind (

Bhowmick

and

Hazarika

, 2017:1).

The

foundation phase

(before 1900s

)

The braille typewriter

was invented in this period in 1820s (Roth and Fee, 2011: 454).

The establishment period (1900-1970s)The white cane was invented in 1921 (Pissalox and Velaquez, 2018: 363).

The empowerment period (1973 – present)The first screen reading technology by IBM and the refreshable braille display in the 1980s (Wendt, et al., 2011:10), and the modern technologies we have today

(Wendt, et al., 2011:10)

Accessibility of Assistive Technologies for the Blind

Currently,

AT

for the blind are bridging the disability gap through digital technologies.

AT facilitates:

Interoperability between accessibility tools and other softwares. The functioning of assistive technologies making it easier and convenient for the blind or visually impaired (Krueger and Stinemann

, 2011).OrCAM allows the blind to read texts from surfaces and relays the information to the user via a small earpiece.

Essential ATs

Mobility

Uses: to facilitate movement

Ultra canes

AT for daily living

Personal care

Tactile labelling systemsHealth monitorsTime keepingBraille clocksFood preparation and consumptionTalking kitchen scalesLiquid level indicators (

Hersh and Johnson, 2008:615)Wearable TechnologiesBraille watch Wearable tactileAT for Navigation and LocationUses: Electronic travel aids, sensory substitute devices that are used to measure distance from nearby obstacles

(Real and Araujo, 2019)

Games

and Sports

Use: recreation and leisure

Board games

Outdoor games for the blind

(Hersh

and Johnson, 2008:670)Screen Readers and MagnifiersUses: Computer accessibility tools that allow the blind access information from their computer or devicesScreen magnification sofwaresScreen reading softwares (Hersh and Johnson, 2008:450)

Speech to text and text to speech, braille conversionUses: Converting information into speech or textSoftwares like JAWS offer text to speech or speech to text solutions

(

Hersh and Johnson, 2008:496)

Challenges

Affordability:

The

affordability gap between custom technology and consumer technology continues to widen making it expensive to create new technologies, which translates to high cost products

. (

Hersh and Johnson, 2008:578)

Constant changes in tech: Constant mobile technology advances, advances in computer vision processing logarithms and new medical interventions create more challenges in the creation of successful assistive technologies. (Bhowmick and Hazarika, 2017:19).

Areas of

Growing Technology

for the

Blind

The areas that are evolving every single day include: sensory substitution devices that are used in the development of retinal prosthesis. Image description assistive technologies that give a mental imagery or use diagrams and pictorials to guide the

blind, navigation and way finding technologies especially for indoors (Bhowmick

and Hazarika, 2017). Other growing technologies mentioned by (Marshall, 2015) include: self-driving cars for the blind and conversational user interfaces that allow the blind use or interact with other apps or computer programs with their voice.

Conclusion

Assistive technologies and development of tools for education, personal care etc. in the everyday life of a visually impaired person plays an important role in making their lives easier and bearable. As the technology continues to advance more technological solutions will be invented.

References

Bhowmick

, A. and

Hazarika

, S. (2017). An Insight into Assistive Technology for the Visually Impaired and the Blind People: State of the art and Future Trends.

Journal of Multi Modal User Interfaces, 11(2), pp.1-24Hersh, M. A. and Johnson, M. A. (2008). Assistive Technology for Visually Impaired and Blind

People.London. Springer Limited.ISO. (2011). ISO/IEC13066-1:2011. [Online] ICS>35>35. Available at: iso.org/standard/53770. Accessed on Krueger, A. and Stineman, M. (2011). Assistive Technology Interoperability between Virtual and Real Worlds. Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 4(3)Luxton, D. and Riek

, L. (2019). Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in Rehabilitation. American Psychological Association. Marshall, J. (2015). From White Canes to Indoor Nav: A Modern History of Assistive Technology for the Blind. [Online] Responsible Business. Available at: https://responsiblebusiness.co/from-white-canes-to-indoor-nav-a-modern-history-of-assistive-technology-for-the-blind-49bd1211d026. Accessed on 8/14/2020Pissaloux, E. and

Velaquesz, R. (2018). Mobility of Visually Impaired People: Fundamental and ICT Assistive Technologies. USA. Springer International Publishing.

Real, S. and Araujo, A. (

2019). Navigation Systems for the Blind and Visually Impaired: Past Work, Challenges, and Open Problems.

Sensors,

19 (15)

Roth

, G. and Fee, E. (2011). The Invention of Braille.

AmJ

Public Health,

101(3), pp.454

Wendt, O., Quist, R. and Lloyd, L. (2011). Assistive Technology: Principles and Applications for Communication Disorders and Special Education. United Kingdom. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.