A Dynamic Display and Display Method for Textured Enhanced Graphics for Individuals who are Blind or Visually Impaired

Principal researcher

Project details

Start date: 15/08/2008
End date: 31/07/2011

Description: For individuals who are blind or visually impaired, there are a dearth of tools and appropriate representations of graphics. The most frequent method of representing 2-D graphical information for individuals who are blind or visually impaired is the use of static raised-line drawings. However, this method is very poor in relaying information in unconstrained tasks, such as understanding unfamiliar objects and object scenes. More recently, a more effective, textured-enriched graphical representation has been proposed as an alternative. This method uses texture to encode critical picture information (i.e., the separation of objects into their subparts, and the orientation of their parts) that is otherwise very difficult to obtain. The general objective of this proposal is to develop a system to maximize the transfer of information using these textured-enriched graphics by developing: (1) a cost-effective, portable and easy to maintain dynamic tactile device capable of presenting a range of textures; and (2) an appropriate texture set to use on the device for encoding purposes, which maximizes its discriminability even under tactile masking and adaptation effects. Both the device and the textures will be designed to maintain the advantages of texture enriched graphics, over raised-line drawings, of being able to immediately provide encoded information on contact (through texture) and in parallel across the fingers, while avoiding the costs and bulkiness of static production methods.

Other organisations involved in this project

Funded by the National Science Foundation.

Last updated: 02/09/2008