A HoloLens Application to Aid People who are Visually Impaired in Navigation Tasks

Day-to-day activities such as navigation and reading can be particularly challenging for people with visual impairments. Reading text on signs may be especially difficult for people who are visually impaired because signs have variable color, contrast, and size. Indoors, signage may include office, classroom, restroom, and fire evacuation signs. Outdoors, they may include street signs, bus numbers, and store signs. Depending on the level of visual impairment, just identifying where signs exist can be a challenge. Using Microsoft\u27s HoloLens, an augmented reality device, I designed and implemented the TextSpotting application that helps those with low vision identify and read indoor signs so that they can navigate text-heavy environments. The application can provide both visual information and auditory information. In addition to developing the application, I conducted a user study to test its effectiveness. Participants were asked to find a room in an unfamiliar hallway. Those that used the TextSpotting application completed the task less quickly yet reported higher levels of ease, comfort, and confidence, indicating the application\u27s limitations and potential in providing an effective means to navigate unknown environments via signage

Smart Assistive Technology for People with Visual Field Loss

Visual field loss results in the lack of ability to clearly see objects in the surrounding environment, which affects the ability to determine potential hazards. In visual field loss, parts of the visual field are impaired to varying degrees, while other parts may remain healthy. This defect can be debilitating, making daily life activities very stressful. Unlike blind people, people with visual field loss retain some functional vision. It would be beneficial to intelligently augment this vision by adding computer-generated information to increase the users' awareness of possible hazards by providing early notifications. This thesis introduces a smart hazard attention system to help visual field impaired people with their navigation using smart glasses and a real-time hazard classification system. This takes the form of a novel, customised, machine learning-based hazard classification system that can be integrated into wearable assistive technology such as smart glasses. The proposed solution provides early notifications based on (1) the visual status of the user and (2) the motion status of the detected object. The presented technology can detect multiple objects at the same time and classify them into different hazard types. The system design in this work consists of four modules: (1) a deep learning-based object detector to recognise static and moving objects in real-time, (2) a Kalman Filter-based multi-object tracker to track the detected objects over time to determine their motion model, (3) a Neural Network-based classifier to determine the level of danger for each hazard using its motion features extracted while the object is in the user's field of vision, and (4) a feedback generation module to translate the hazard level into a smart notification to increase user's cognitive perception using the healthy vision within the visual field. For qualitative system testing, normal and personalised defected vision models were implemented. The personalised defected vision model was created to synthesise the visual function for the people with visual field defects. Actual central and full-field test results were used to create a personalised model that is used in the feedback generation stage of this system, where the visual notifications are displayed in the user's healthy visual area. The proposed solution will enhance the quality of life for people suffering from visual field loss conditions. This non-intrusive, wearable hazard detection technology can provide obstacle avoidance solution, and prevent falls and collisions early with minimal information

Ayuda técnica para la autonomía en el desplazamiento

The project developed in this thesis involves the design, implementation and evaluation of a new technical assistance aiming to ease the mobility of people with visual impairments. By using processing and sounds synthesis, the users can hear the sonification protocol (through bone conduction) informing them, after training, about the position and distance of the various obstacles that may be on their way, avoiding eventual accidents. In this project, surveys were conducted with experts in the field of rehabilitation, blindness and techniques of image processing and sound, which defined the user requirements that served as guideline for the design. The thesis consists of three self-contained blocks: (i) image processing, where 4 processing algorithms are proposed for stereo vision, (ii) sonification, which details the proposed sound transformation of visual information, and (iii) a final central chapter on integrating the above and sequentially evaluated in two versions or implementation modes (software and hardware). Both versions have been tested with both sighted and blind participants, obtaining qualitative and quantitative results, which define future improvements to the project. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------El proyecto desarrollado en la presente tesis doctoral consiste en el diseño, implementación y evaluación de una nueva ayuda técnica orientada a facilitar la movilidad de personas con discapacidad visual. El sistema propuesto consiste en un procesador de estereovisión y un sintetizador de sonidos, mediante los cuales, las usuarias y los usuarios pueden escuchar un código de sonidos mediante transmisión ósea que les informa, previo entrenamiento, de la posición y distancia de los distintos obstáculos que pueda haber en su camino, evitando accidentes. En dicho proyecto, se han realizado encuestas a expertos en el campo de la rehabilitación, la ceguera y en las técnicas y tecnologías de procesado de imagen y sonido, mediante las cuales se definieron unos requisitos de usuario que sirvieron como guía de propuesta y diseño. La tesis está compuesta de tres grandes bloques autocontenidos: (i) procesado de imagen, donde se proponen 4 algoritmos de procesado de visión estéreo, (ii) sonificación, en el cual se detalla la propuesta de transformación a sonido de la información visual, y (iii) un último capítulo central sobre integración de todo lo anterior en dos versiones evaluadas secuencialmente, una software y otra hardware. Ambas versiones han sido evaluadas con usuarios tanto videntes como invidentes, obteniendo resultados cualitativos y cuantitativos que permiten definir mejoras futuras sobre el proyecto finalmente implementado

Current Use and Future Perspectives of Spatial Audio Technologies in Electronic Travel Aids

Electronic travel aids (ETAs) have been in focus since technology allowed designing relatively small, light, and mobile devices for assisting the visually impaired. Since visually impaired persons rely on spatial audio cues as their primary sense of orientation, providing an accurate virtual auditory representation of the environment is essential. This paper gives an overview of the current state of spatial audio technologies that can be incorporated in ETAs, with a focus on user requirements. Most currently available ETAs either fail to address user requirements or underestimate the potential of spatial sound itself, which may explain, among other reasons, why no single ETA has gained a widespread acceptance in the blind community. We believe there is ample space for applying the technologies presented in this paper, with the aim of progressively bridging the gap between accessibility and accuracy of spatial audio in ETAs.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement no. 643636.Peer Reviewe

Sistema de visão para a orientação e mobilidade em edifícios públicos

Dissertação de mest., Engenharia Elétrica e Eletrónica (Tecnologias da Informação e Telecomunicações), Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Univ. do Algarve, 2013Os sistemas de navegação, como o GPS, têm proliferado de forma surpreendente na última década, assumindo hoje um papel fundamental no nosso quotidiano. No entanto, tais tecnologias são de uso exclusivo em campo aberto e inúteis na utilização em ambientes interiores. Esta dissertação foca o desenvolvimento de um sistema para orientação e mobilidade dentro de edifícios públicos utilizando visão artificial para o reconhecimento de objetos e textos que sirvam de pontos de referência para a localização do indivíduo, tais como sinalizadores, placares de informação textual, extintores de incêndio, portas, escadas, janelas, cacifos, retângulos entre outros e um Sistema de Informação Geográfica para efetuar o enquadramento espacial da informação extraída por visão. A utilização de o Sistema de Informação Geográfica permite ainda o planeamento de uma rota de navegação através da verificação das acessibilidades entre as divisões do edifício caraterizado em mapa. Torna-se assim possível, conhecendo a posição e rota de navegação, orientar o indivíduo no seu trajeto até ao seu destino final. O interface com o utilizador, visando como utilizador final pessoas com deficiência visual, é efetuado com recurso a um sintetizador de voz que comunica verbalmente as informações tanto de reconhecimento como de localização e orientação

Earth resources: A continuing bibliography with indexes (issue 59)

This bibliography lists 518 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between July 1 and September 30, 1988. Emphasis is placed on the use of remote sensing and geophysical instrumentation in spacecraft and aircraft to survey and inventory natural resources and urban areas. Subject matter is grouped according to agriculture and forestry, environmental changes and cultural resources, geodesy and cartography, geology and mineral resources, oceanography and marine resources, hydrology and water management, data processing and distribution systems, and instrumentation and sensors

Lateralised repetition priming for face recognition: priming occurs in the right hemisphere only

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Activity in area V3A predicts positions of moving objects

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Space Communications: Theory and Applications. Volume 3: Information Processing and Advanced Techniques. A Bibliography, 1958 - 1963

Annotated bibliography on information processing and advanced communication techniques - theory and applications of space communication