Jen Quinlan

Smartphones tout sophisticated features (camera, GPS, voice controls) that developers have tapped into to create increasingly useful applications to enhance our daily lives. Upon playing with iPhone4 Siri technology, I started thinking about how this technology will be of use to visually impaired audience. According to the American Foundation for the Blind, this audience represents 8% (25M) of the US adult population is visually impaired - that is about 1 in 13 of us will have visual impairment affect our lives.

Meet Austin Seraphin

Before diving into the latest smartphone applications and technologies for the blind, I wanted to better understand how blind people utilize smartphones.

I came across Behind The Curtain blog by Austin Seraphin. I would highly recommend reading up on him. Excerpts highlighted below are from a blog post he wrote on his first 24 hours owning an iPhone and how it changed his life:

“Last Wednesday, my life changed forever. I got an iPhone. I consider it the greatest thing to happen to the blind for a very long time, possibly ever. It offers unparalleled access to properly made applications, and changed my life in twenty-four hours.”

“She [his mom] pulled out her phone, and sent me a text message. Within seconds, my phone alerted me, and said her name. I simply swiped my finger and it read her message: Hi Austin. She almost cried. “Leave it to Apple.” I said.”

“I have seen a lot of technology for the blind, and I can safely say that the iPhone represents the most revolutionary thing to happen to the blind for at least the last ten years.”

Visually Impaired Audience: Stats
Stats were pulled from American Foundation for the Blind

• More than 25 million American adults report experiencing significant vision loss.
• More than 18.7 million American adults between the ages of 18 and 64 report experiencing significant vision loss. Additionally, 6.5 million American adults 65 and older report experiencing significant vision loss.
• Approximately 12.6 million of Americans who have vision loss are married, 2.7 million are widowed, 4.2 million are divorced or separated, 4.0 million have never married, and 1.6 million live with a partner.

Mobile Applications Innovations
Below I’ve included two applications that highlight examples of solutions developers have created for the blind. It seems to me as augmented reality / object recognition technologies get more sophisticated, we’ll be in a position to provide technology-enabled life changing solutions for the blind.

The vOICe for Android

The vOICe for Android turns any Android camera device into a smart camera companion, a stand-alone computer vision system where all real-time image processing and audio synthesis is done by the device. Analogous to the fovea of the human retina, The vOICe for Android applies a foveal mapping to offer blind users a higher resolution central view and a lower resolution peripheral view. For best augmented reality experience, The vOICe for Android should be applied with low-power camera glasses and stereo headphones, much like the video visor in  ”Big data: The next Google” (Nature, 2008). Camera glasses for Android are not yet on the market, but ZionEyez LLC (zioneyez.com) has announced their “Eyez” camera glasses supporting USB and Bluetooth, and compatibility with The vOICe will be investigated at a later stage. The Looxcie wearable camera cannot work with The vOICe for Android for lack of an API or SDK.

LookTel Object Recognition
See video demonstration here

LookTel is a planned suite of assistive solutions for people with visual impairments or blindness. Designed for the accessible iPhone, LookTel will automatically scan and recognize objects such as money, packaged goods, CDs, DVDs, and medication bottles, as well as landmarks. Recognition will happen in real-time and without delay – there’s no need to hold the device still or take a photo and wait for a result.

Reference Materials for Additional Reading

• Forum for Nonvisual Development
  http://empowermentzone.com/NonvisualDevelopmentFAQ.htm
• Blind Bloggers List
  http://www.visionaware.org/blind_bloggers_blogs_by_people_who_are_blind_or_have_low_vision