Enhancement of Dynamic Media for Visually-Impaired People

描述（由申请人提供）：大约有370万美国人有视力障碍，其中大多数人有中央视力丧失，随着人口老龄化，这个数字预计会上升。广播电视、电影和互联网是信息、独立和娱乐的主要来源，但这些媒体对中枢性视力丧失的人来说很难使用。很少有有效的辅助设备用于使用这些动态媒体，部分原因是我们对非中央凹视觉的自然图像的感知知之甚少。这个应用程序检查了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性。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割出来。这些方法汇集在一个新颖的，低成本的图像增强系统，将在标准计算机上运行。该系统将由一组中央视力丧失的人进行评估，并与其他方法进行比较。公共卫生相关性：电视、电影和互联网是信息、独立和娱乐的主要来源，但这些媒体对中央性视力丧失的人来说很难使用，而且可用的有效辅助装置很少。该项目开发了一种低成本的图像增强系统，供日益增多的视障人士使用，从而直接促进了公共卫生。

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.