Seeing with ears: Sightless humans' perception of dog bark provides a test for structural rules in vocal communication
by Csaba Molnar
Prerecorded family dog (Canis familiaris) barks were played back to groups of congenitally sightless, sightless with... more Prerecorded family dog (Canis familiaris) barks were played back to groups of congenitally sightless, sightless with prior visual experience, and sighted people (none of whom had ever owned a dog). We found that blind people without any previous canine visual experiences can categorize accurately various dog barks recorded in different contexts, and their results are very close to those of sighted people in characterizing the emotional content of barks. These findings suggest that humans can recognize some of the most important motivational states reflecting, for example, fear or aggression in a dog's bark without any visual experience. It is very likely that this result can be generalized to other mammalian species - that is, no visual experience of another individual is needed for recognizing some of the most important motivational states of the caller.
Download (.pdf) Anotador Braille Parlante
SASE/CASE 2011, Argentina, 1er. premio emprendedores
Abstract— Construction of a low cost electronic Braille Note Taker... more
Abstract— Construction of a low cost electronic Braille Note Taker prototype, for blind people, that could be manufactured by government or NGOs, to facilitate the acquisition by persons who need it, without importing this product due to the international high costs with current change in Argentina.
Keywords: Low-cost, Portable, Braille, Note Taker, Voice
Synthesis.
Resumen— Se planteó la realización de un prototipo de anotador braille electrónico, de bajo costo de producción, que en caso de no ser gratuito para ciegos, por falta de financiación de organizaciones gubernamentales o similares, sea accesible su compra, dado que su adquisición se hace prohibitiva por su alto costo en el mercado internacional, única fuente actual para los ciegos de Argentina.
Palabras claves: anotador, braille, portátil, bajo costo, síntesisde voz.
The "Deaf Traveller", the "Blind Traveller", and Constructions of Disability in Nineteenth-Century Travel Writing
Published in Victorian Review, 35.2 (2009): 133-154.
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Assessing the Accessibility for the Blind and Visually Impaired of Texas State Agency Web Sites
by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects
Spencer, Kelvin L., "Assessing the Accessibility for the Blind and Visually Impaired of Texas State Agency Web Sites" (2001). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 65.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/65
The information age has created much advanced technology to perform office work and store great bodies of information,... more
The information age has created much advanced technology to perform office work and store great bodies of information, allowing blind and visually impaired citizens to participate in society on their own terms. Users can access computerized knowledge inexpensively with interfaces, allowing unguided personal investigation and fiee roaming limited only by curiosity. This is possible through screen readers, speech synthesizers, and Braille output devices that help impaired users communicate with character-based computer-based systems that are limited in their communication, just like the user. In order to assess web site usability for the visually impaired, this applied research project studied the accessibility of Texas state agency web sites among the visually impaired. The research purpose is three-fold. The first purpose is to describe the ideal characteristics of an accessible governmental informational web site for the blindvisually impaired. The second purpose is to assess web sites of Texas state agencies using the ideal categories. The final purpose is to make recommendations for improving accessibility to the blindvisually impaired of the web sites of Texas state agency web sites.
The research purpose was carried with a conceptual framework that demonstrated the essential categories or guidelines needed to assess the accessibility of the design of the homepages of 25 Texas state agencies. Four standards are used to assess the web sites: (1) technology in place; (2) human contacts necessary for assistance in navigation; (3) physical characteristics of the site; and (4) presentation of data tables should be clear. Content analysis was the methodology used to assess Texas state agency web sites for these standards.
The results show that overall, Texas state agencies are in compliance with the first standard (assisted software technology). All of the web sites used Jaws Screen Readers and did not use JAVA (See Table 5.1). Over 90 percent used Alt Tags. The weakest element was the "Bobby Certification." Only 64percent were "Bobby Certified." Thus, 36% of the agencies were found to have priority one errors that renders the web sites inaccessible to individuals who are visually impaired. The results of the second standard (human support) indicate that for the most part web sites of Texas state agencies included ways to contact a person inside the agency if there were problems (See Table 5.2). All of the web sites had telephone numbers and 72 percent had e-mails. The results of standard 3 (presentation) indicate all state agencies scored a 100% in this area. Standard 4 (table presentation) results show all of the state agencies avoided using multi-column data tables, making this infoxmation accessible.
Overall, the agencies were compliant with the guidelines established by Section 508. They showed strengths in almost all the categories assessed, with a miniscule number of problems arising when it came to the inclusion of Alt. Tags, the inclusion of short text descriptions for all images, and the avoidance of images used as hypertext. Even taking these problems into consideration, all of the web sites assessed proved to be clear and simple when navigated using assistive technology. Since the amount of information on the World Wide Web is growing exponentially and the demand for this information is growing as well, the call for equal access is increasing imperative.
Ontogeny of Drevermannia and the origin of blindness in Late Devonian proetoid trilobites.
LEROSEY-AUBRIL R. 2006. Ontogeny of Drevermannia and the origin of blindness in Late Devonian proetoid trilobites. Geological Magazine, 143(1): 89-104.
Numerous silicified and calcareous sclerites of various sizes, recovered from the latest Famennian of Thuringia... more Numerous silicified and calcareous sclerites of various sizes, recovered from the latest Famennian of Thuringia (Germany), allow the description of the first complete growth series of a blind proetoid trilobite: Drevermannia richteri. In addition, the partial ontogenetic development of Drevermannia antecurvata sp. nov. and undetermined species, Drevermannia sp. 1, are described. The proetoid anaprotaspides, associated with D. richteri, illustrate that a marked increase in larval size occurred prior to the terminal Devonian extinction event. Considering the homogeneity of larval size in older Devonian proetoids, it is interpreted as evidence that the developmental strategy of these trilobites was significantly modified. Though largely speculative, two alternative hypotheses are proposed to explain this modification. Finally, all three ontogenetic sequences show that ocular structures never develop externally in Drevermannia, but also illustrate that the development of optical nerves is not completely lost in this group. This suggests that blindness in the Drevermannia lineage followed a centripetal mode of eye reduction.
Post-protaspid ontogeny of the blind cyrtosymboline Helioproetus (Trilobita) from the late Famennian of Thuringia, Germany.
LEROSEY-AUBRIL R. & FEIST R. 2005. Post-protaspid ontogeny of the blind cyrtosymboline Helioproetus (Trilobita) from the late Famennian of Thuringia, Germany. Senckenbergiana Lethaea, 85(1): 119-130.
The almost complete post-protaspid ontogenetic sequence and the hitherto unknown hypostome of a Late Devonian blind... more The almost complete post-protaspid ontogenetic sequence and the hitherto unknown hypostome of a Late Devonian blind proetid,Helioproetus costifusus, are described. The silicified meraspid remains were recovered from the lower part of the Upper Clymenien-Schichten of late Famennian (Dasbergian) age from Breternitz near Saalfeld, Thuringia. The course of the facial suture inH. costifusus is in early ontogenetic stages similar to that of adults of the youngerH. carintiacus, present in the upper part of the same section. This observation suggests an ancestor-descendent relationship between the two species, implying processes of heterochrony. The smallest cranidia of H. costifusus also exhibit a particular overall morphology and a remnant of a straight palpebral suture indicating that this species may have had a sighted cyrtosymboline ancestor. The Early Carboniferous Pedinocoryphe is considered to have evolved in a convergent way from a common rootstock.
Producing Intelligent Telegraphic Text Reduction to Provide An Audio Scanning Service for the Blind
AAAI Spring Workshop on Intelligent Text Summarization, Stanford, CA, March 23-25, 1998
Text summarization is usually taken to mean producing a shorter version of an original document by retaining the most... more Text summarization is usually taken to mean producing a shorter version of an original document by retaining the most salient parts of the original text. Two approaches have been favored: selecting high content-bearing sentences influenced by positional constraints, and performing domain-dependent information extraction which fills a template from which a summary can be glossed. This paper presents a third approach to text reduction, producing shortened telegraphic versions of all input sentences. This approach shares the domain-independence advantage of the sentence selection and the one-pass advantage of information extraction template filling. We argue that this type of text reduction has some practical applications, and present the case of creating an audio scanner for the blind.
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Electronic white cane for blind people navigation assistance
Authors: Faria, J., Lopes, S., Fernandes, H., Martins, P., Barroso, J.
In modern daily life people need to move, whether in business or leisure, sightseeing or addressing a meeting. Often... more In modern daily life people need to move, whether in business or leisure, sightseeing or addressing a meeting. Often this is done in familiar environments, but in some cases we need to find our way in unfamiliar scenarios. Visual impairment is a factor that greatly reduces mobility. Currently, the most widespread and used means by the visually impaired people are the white stick and the guide dog; however both present some limitations. With the recent advances in inclusive technology it is possible to extend the support given to people with visual impairment during their mobility. In this context we propose a system, named SmartVision, whose global objective is to give blind users the ability to move around in unfamiliar environments, whether indoor or outdoor, through a user friendly interface that is fed by a geographic information system (GIS). In this paper we propose the development of an electronic white cane that helps moving around, in both indoor and outdoor environments, providing contextualized geographical information using RFID technology.
Stereo vision in blind navigation assistance
Authors: Fernandes, H., Costa, P., Filipe, V., Hadjileontiadis, L., Barroso, J.
Visual impairment and blindness caused by infectious diseases has been greatly reduced, but increasing numbers of... more Visual impairment and blindness caused by infectious diseases has been greatly reduced, but increasing numbers of people are at risk of age-related visual impairment. Visual information is the basis for most navigational tasks, so visually impaired individuals are at disadvantage because appropriate information about the surrounding environment is not available. With the recent advances in inclusive technology it is possible to extend the support given to people with visual impairment during their mobility. In this context we propose a system, named SmartVision, whose global objective is to give blind users the ability to move around in unfamiliar environments, whether indoor or outdoor, through a user friendly interface. This paper is focused mainly in the development of the computer vision module of the SmartVision system.
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Landmarks detection to assist the navigation of visually impaired people
Authors: Paulo Costa, Hugo Fernandes, Verónica Vasconcelos,
Paulo Coelho, João Barroso and Leontios Hadjileontiadis
Assistive technology enables people to achieve independence in the accomplishment of their daily tasks and enhance... more Assistive technology enables people to achieve independence in the accomplishment of their daily tasks and enhance their quality of life. Visual information is the basis for most navigational tasks, so visually impaired individuals are at disadvantage due to the lack of information or given insufficient information about their surrounding environment. With the recent advances in inclusive technology it is possible to extend the support given to people with visual disabilities during their mobility. In this context we propose a new algorithm to recognize landmarks suitably placed on sidewalks. The proposed algorithm uses a combination of Peano-Hilbert Space Filling Curves for dimension reduction of image data and Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) to pre-process the image, resulting on a fast and efficient recognition method and revealing a promising solution.
An integrated system for blind day-to-day life autonomy
The autonomy of blind people in their daily life depends on their knowledge of the surrounding world, and they are... more The autonomy of blind people in their daily life depends on their knowledge of the surrounding world, and they are aided by keen senses and assistive devices that help them to deduce their surroundings. Existing solutions require that users carry a wide range of devices and, mostly, do not include mechanisms to ensure the autonomy of users in the event of system failure. This paper presents the nav4b system that combines guidance and navigation with object's recognition, extending traditional aids (white cane and smartphone). A working prototype was installed on the UTAD campus to perform experiments with blind users.
Image segmentation in systems of stereo vision for visually impaired people
Authors: Penedo, Andreia; Costa, Paulo; Fenandes, Hugo; Pereira, António; Barroso, João
According to the World Health Organization in 2002 more than 161 million people were visually impaired.
The... more
According to the World Health Organization in 2002 more than 161 million people were visually impaired.
The mobility of the visually impaired reveals itself to be a rather complex task, even with the support of inclusive technologies. Currently, the most widespread and used means by the visually impaired people are the white stick and the guide dog, however both show some difficulties in their mobility. The white stick only detects obstacles at the ground level, whilst obtaining a guide dog correctly trained in Portugal is an expensive and slow solution, given that the communication between the visually impaired person and the dog is limited.
If the blind person had access to reliable information, and in real time, about the environment in which he lives, it certainly would be safer for him to move around it.
Thus, more and more, with the increasing development of the technologies, there is the possibility of creating systems that assist the visually impaired people in their task of detecting the obstacles and subsequent orientation.
The objective of this article is to create a system that allows the capture of images in real time and that accomplishes the segmentation resorting to the information with disparity. Later on, the result of the image segmentation will be used in a system that offers the visually impaired person information on the environment that surrounds him.
The image acquisition is done through a system of stereo vision that captures images from the surrounding environment as the user moves around.
The SmartVision Navigation Prototype for the Blind
Authors: J.M.H. du Buf, J. Barroso, J.M.F. Rodrigues, H. Paredes, M. Farrajota, H. Fernandes, J. José, V. Teixeira, M. Saleiro
The goal of the project "SmartVision: active vision for the blind" is to develop a small and portable but... more The goal of the project "SmartVision: active vision for the blind" is to develop a small and portable but intelligent and reliable system for assisting the blind and visually impaired while navigating autonomously, both outdoor and indoor. In this paper we present an overview of the prototype, design issues, and its different modules which integrate a GIS with GPS, Wi-Fi, RFID tags and computer vision. The prototype addresses glob-al navigation by following known landmarks, local navi-gation with path tracking and obstacle avoidance, and object recognition. The system does not replace the white cane, but extends it beyond its reach. The user-friendly interface consists of a 4-button hand-held box, a vibra-tion actuator in the handle of the cane, and speech syn-thesis. A future version may also employ active RFID tags for marking navigation landmarks, and speech recognition may complement speech synthesis.
Fiducials Marks detection to Assist Visually Impaired people Navigate
Authors: Paulo Costa, Hugo Fernandes, João Barroso, Paulo Coelho, and Leontios J. Hadjileontiadis
Assistive technology enables people to achieve independence in the accomplishment of their daily tasks and enhance... more Assistive technology enables people to achieve independence in the accomplishment of their daily tasks and enhance their quality of life. Visual information is the basis for most navigational tasks, so visually impaired individuals are at disadvantage due to the lack of information or given unsufficient information about their surrounding environment. With the recent advances in inclusive technology it is possible to extend the support given to people with visual disabilities during their mobility. In this context we propose and describe the SmartVision project, whose global objective is to assist visually impaired people in their navigation through unknown indoor and outdoor environments. This paper is focused mainly on the Computer Vision module of the SmartVision prototype, were we propose a new algorithm to recognise fiducials marks suitably placed on sidewalks, revealing to be a promising solution.
Providing accessibility to blind people using GIS
Authors: Fernandes, H., Conceição, N., Paredes, H., Pereira, A., Araújo, P., Barroso, J.
In everyday life, people need to move, whether in business or leisure. Navigation requires spatial knowledge and... more In everyday life, people need to move, whether in business or leisure. Navigation requires spatial knowledge and ability to make decisions based on geographic information. Recently, powerful tools have been developed, enhancing the capabilities of geographical analysis and decision making. This work presents a platform to handle and provide geographic information, including accessibility-oriented features. This Geographic Information System (GIS) is part of a wider project, called SmartVision. The aim of this project is to create a system that allows blind users to navigate in the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) campus. The GIS platform, together with other modules of the SmartVision system prototype, provides information to blind users, assisting their navigation and giving alerts of nearby points-of-interest or obstacles. Together with the GIS platform, this paper also describes the handling of accessibility information by the SmartVision prototype, namely the Navigation Module, the Computer Vision Module and the Interface Module.