[gui-talk] Fwd: Handhelds give blind insight

[Steve Pattison]

>From: Peter Meijer feedback at seeingwithsound.com
>To: seeingwithsound at freelists.org
>
>Hi All,
>
>Appended is an article from the Canadian national newspaper
>The Globe and Mail today, featuring The vOICe. Many thanks
>to all of you who contributed to this article!
>
>Best wishes,
>
>Peter Meijer
>
>Seeing with Sound - The vOICe
>www.seeingwithsound.com/winvoice.htm
>
>Handhelds give blind insight.
>
>IAN HARVEY.
>
>Special to Globe and Mail Update.
>
>It's not quite the visor worn by Commander Geordi LaForge, a
>character on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but there are
>some interesting parallels to an assistive technology that is
>allowing blind users to "see" by sound.
>
>The technology is part of a wave of software and hardware
>which has evolved as laptops, mobile phones and PDAs converge
>into powerful handheld computers running common operating
>systems such as Windows Mobile 5.0 or the RIM Blackberry
>platform.
>
>They're having a profound impact, allowing the blind to
>navigate streets in unfamiliar cities, to having e-mails read
>from their mobiles and identifying colours.
>
>The "seeing by sound" technology was developed by Peter
>Meijer, a Dutch scientist, and is available as a free download
>on his website. It configures signals from a video camera
>processed via a computer (some versions run on laptops carried
>in backpacks) into a series of sounds. To the untrained ear it
>sounds like a series of roars hisses and bleeps, but with a
>little time users begin to discern shapes and shadows based on
>the texture and density of the soundscape.
>
>Users report remarkable adaptation, saying they can see shapes
>as distinct as a coke bottle or discern a soccer ball from a
>rugby ball.
>
>Claire Cheskin, of London, England, says she can "see" buoy
>markers in the channel as she sails her yacht in the summer.
>Another user triumphantly reports being able to tell red
>peppers from green peppers when grocery shopping.
>
>Some versions have a camera and headphone mounted on headgear,
>while another version looks more like the Star Trek visor with
>the camera mounted an oversize cycling visor and connected to
>laptop in a backpack. Still others are using a mobile phone's
>built-in video camera and internal processor, thanks to the
>fact that the processing power in many new handsets is
>starting to rival that of early desktop computers.
>
>"The colour identification [of the buoys] even on the phone is
>very detailed and accurate," said Ms. Cheskin. "Once you have
>learned the basic sound 'language,' you don't have to think
>about it any more than someone who depends on their vision. It
>takes about three months and at first you identify geometric
>shapes, then a shape that you are used to hearing, and then
>the object means something and you put it in the context of
>your surroundings. I had a lot of trouble with perspective at
>first, which you would take for granted, but which meant I
>'saw' cars driving up the side of buildings!"
>
>Pravnav Lal of New Delhi said in an e-mail interview that he
>matches his clothing using such a system, "especially trousers
>and ties," adding that crisper definitions are evolving with
>the availability of faster mobile processors.
>
>Most of the assistive technology until now has been designed
>for "stationary" or desktop use, such as JAWS, a software
>which opens and reads documents to blind users. It also links
>with another portable device, PAC Mate, which has a dynamic
>interface to create raised Braille characters and allow users
>to similarly read documents such as e-mail using tactile
>sense. But as PDAs and Smart Phones gain processing power,
>more applications are possible in other areas.
>
>"It's really started to take off in the last 18 months or so
>with PDAs," said Paul Loba, Canadian National Institute for
>the Blind's technology consultant.
>
>The ability to shift to handhelds means greater mobility and
>puts blind users on a more equal footing with sighted co-
>workers, he said.
>
>"Rather than creating special devices, the great thing is
>taking existing products and adding applications to them,"
>says Carrie Anton of Aroga Group, the Edmonton-based
>distributor of Mobile Speak software for handheld devices
>which turns text and Web pages in to voice. "There are already
>some cellphones which voice functions like contacts or next
>call but this takes it a step further."
>
>Marcia Cumming of Toronto, a technical writer at Rogers, uses
>a an iPaq 4150 to run Trekker and Maestro software from L.A.-
>based Humanware. Maestro is a mobile software which reads
>documents to her, such as any notes she types into her mobile
>device or the text in documents. She can also download talking
>books, which are then digitally enhanced with chapter guides
>and bookmarks.
>
>But perhaps the most liberating aspect of her handheld is the
>ability to navigate in almost any city — even places she's
>never been before using Trekker, a Ground Positioning
>Satellite (GPS)-linked software. Trekker takes widely
>available mapping software one step further for the blind. It
>voices her location, points of interest and gives directions.
>
>"I have maps for all the big cities in Canada," she said.
>"It's wonderful not to depend on asking people for directions,
>because half the time they say they don't speak English or say
>'they're not from here' when all I'm asking if they can read a
>street sign. Trekker has points of interest and you can add
>your own as you go along."
>
>Source URL:
>www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM. 
>20060612.gtblindjun12/BNStory/Technology/

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
Skype:  steve1963
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com