Support system for handwriting characters and drawing figures for the blind using feedback of sound imaging signals

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Recently, the number of adventitious blind was increased by traffic accidents and diseases, namely cataract and diabetic retinopathy. It is difficult for the old aged adventitious blind to learn Braille. However, they still need to read the printed word, to write and to draw pictures.When the sighted person writes characters and draws pictures, he unconsciously uses the feedback of the visual system. If he loses this feedback, he cannot write characters in the correct position on the paper. Accordingly the visually handicapped may be able to write letters using the feedback of information which helps them to write correctly. This information could be transmitted to the individual by auditory sense.In this research, we propose a new auditory display system which aids the blind person to handwrite characters and to draw figures using the feedback of sound imaging signals. We have studied the method of transmitting pictorial information through auditory sensation as a sensory aid for the visually handicapped. This method utilizes the control of sound lateralization and simple patterns can be expressed in the auditory space perceived with binaural headphones.These patterns are composed of point sound images which correspond to the picture elements. Possibility of handwriting characters and drawing simple patterns was examined, and our experimental results have shown, this system could be helpful when the adventitious blind write and draw. However the size of character is limited in the present system, small sizes cannot be used. Handwritten characters are evaluated by the handwritten character recognition unit, and these characters may be able to convert into speech by the voice synthesizer. The blind will be able to learn the character forenes and writing order by the support system. In the future, it will be necessary to improve the resolution of the auditory screen.