Enhancement of Dynamic Media for Visually-Impaired People

描述(由申请人提供)：大约有370万美国人患有视力障碍，其中大多数人患有中央视力丧失，随着我们人口的老龄化，这一数字预计还会上升。广播电视、电影和互联网是信息、独立和娱乐的主要来源，但这些媒体对中央视力丧失的人来说很难使用。几乎没有有效的辅助设备来使用这些动态媒体，这在一定程度上是因为我们对用非中心凹视觉观看的自然图像的感知知之甚少。这个应用程序检查自然图像中信息的可见性如何取决于对比度和附近特征的存在。我们引入了新的计算技术来测量和操纵真实电影中区域的可见度。接下来，我们使用计算和行为技术将对感知重要的图像位置从不重要的区域中分离出来。这些方法被结合在一种新的、低成本的图像增强系统中，该系统将在标准计算机上运行。该系统将由一组中心视力丧失的人进行评估，并与其他方法进行并列比较。与公共健康相关：电视、电影和互联网是信息、独立和娱乐的主要来源，但这些媒体很难被中央视力丧失的人使用，而且几乎没有有效的辅助设备可用。该项目通过开发一种低成本的图像增强系统，直接为公众健康做出贡献，供日益增长的视障人士使用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There are approximately 3.7 million Americans with visual impairment, most of whom have central vision loss and this number is expected to rise as our population ages. Broadcast television, movies and the internet are major sources of information, independence and entertainment, but these media are difficult to use for people with central vision loss. There are few effective assistive devices for using these dynamic media and this is partly because we know relatively little about the perception of natural images viewed with non-foveal vision. This application examines how the visibility of information in natural images depends on contrast and on the presence of nearby features. We introduce new computational techniques that measure and manipulate the visibility of areas within real movies. Next, we use computational and behavioral techniques to segment image locations that are important for perception from areas that are unimportant. These approaches are brought together in a novel, low cost image enhancement system that will operate on standard computers. This system will be evaluated by a group of people with central vision loss and compared side-by- side with alternative methods. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Television, movies and the internet are a major source of information, independence and entertainment, but these media are difficult to use by people with central vision loss and there are few effective assistive devices available. This project contributes directly to public health by developing a low cost image enhancement system for use by this growing population of visually impaired people.