HCC: Interactive and Enriched Haptic Graphical Representations for People who are Blind and Visually Impaired

HCC：为盲人和视障人士提供丰富的交互式触觉图形表示

• 批准号: 0712936
• 负责人: Dianne Pawluk
• 金额: $ 33.27万
• 依托单位: Virginia Commonwealth University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-09-15 至 2012-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0712936&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: HCC; Interactive; Enriched; Haptic; Graphical

Graphical representations often comprise an integral part of highly interactive interfaces to enhance human insight and creativity. The benefits of such interfaces are for the most part denied, however, to individuals who are blind or visually impaired, who are as a consequence are placed at a significant disadvantage with respect to learning throughout their lives. For young children, graphical representations in books are often critical for developing a vocabulary, as many objects cannot easily be obtained or safely handled physically. Later on, examination and interpretation of graphical information such as experimental time series data, mathematical waveforms and geographical diagrams are crucial for obtaining insight in these areas and a sign of creativity. Currently, the most frequent method of representing 2D graphical information so as to make it accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired is through static raised-line drawings, but this method is very poor at relaying information in unconstrained tasks such as those mentioned above. In this project the PI adopts a novel alternative haptics-based approach to address the challenge of developing more suitable interactive methods and appropriate representations that enhance understanding of unfamiliar information (whether patterns, groups of items, or individual items) and improve the user's ability to make discoveries or propose explanations. She will develop highly interactive graphics technology that allows the user to actively and separately control both the magnification and simplification of a graphic during its examination. This will allow the user to customize and vary as needed the trade-off between the two main limitations of haptic processing: the need to serially integrate information, and poor tactile spatial resolution. The enriched representations will use texture or vibration as a way to encode the separation of a graphic into objects and object parts, and to describe the 3D orientation of parts, which are two of the most difficult aspects of interpretation. The project will be conducted with input and feedback from members of the target user community, and validated experimentally.Broader Impacts: This research will help move knowledge about human haptic processing from theory to practice. As the focus is on developing enabling technologies for higher level thinking skills, the project will empower individuals who are blind or visually impaired (and ultimately all users) with new tools to make more significant contributions to society. Thus, the work will in particular contribute to the effort of preventing individuals from the target community being left further behind as information technology advances forward, and will enable them to enjoy a better income and quality of life.

图形表示通常包括高度交互式界面的组成部分，以增强人类的洞察力和创造力。 然而，盲人或视力受损者在很大程度上无法享受这些界面的好处，因此，他们在一生的学习中处于非常不利的地位。 对于幼儿来说，书籍中的图形表示通常对发展词汇至关重要，因为许多物体不容易获得或安全地物理处理。 之后，对实验时间序列数据、数学波形和地理图表等图形信息的检查和解释对于获得这些领域的洞察力至关重要，也是创造力的标志。目前，表示2D图形信息以使盲人或视力受损的个人可以访问的最常见的方法是通过静态凸起线绘制，但是这种方法在诸如上述那些不受约束的任务中传递信息时非常差。 在这个项目中，PI采用了一种新的替代基于触觉的方法来解决开发更合适的交互方法和适当的表示，以增强对不熟悉信息（无论是模式，项目组还是单个项目）的理解，并提高用户发现或提出解释的能力。 她将开发高度交互式的图形技术，允许用户在检查过程中主动单独控制图形的放大和简化。 这将允许用户根据需要定制和改变触觉处理的两个主要限制之间的权衡：需要连续集成信息和触觉空间分辨率差。 丰富的表示将使用纹理或振动作为一种方式来编码图形到对象和对象部分的分离，并描述部分的3D方向，这是解释的两个最困难的方面。 该项目将进行输入和反馈，从目标用户社区的成员，并通过实验验证。更广泛的影响：这项研究将有助于移动有关人类触觉处理的知识从理论到实践。 由于该项目的重点是为更高层次的思维技能开发使能技术，因此该项目将为盲人或视障者（最终是所有用户）提供新工具，为社会做出更重大的贡献。 因此，这项工作将特别有助于防止目标社区的个人随着信息技术的进步而进一步落后，并将使他们能够享受更好的收入和生活质量。