In researching various means to reduce the cost of displaying braille, the alternate methods of braille display have emerged. Alternate methods of braille display mainly explore the display of short text messages. These alternate methods need to be looked at in terms of factors such as cost-effectiveness, user efficiency etc. This paper for the first time summarizes and compares recent trends in braille display where there is a deviation from the standard presentation of braille. Various aspects of alternate braille designs in terms of relative cost, convenience and reading speed are reviewed. The standard braille display designs with different actuators are first outlined. The alternate modes of displaying braille are then presented. A review of the results of preliminary testing with users indicates that braille presented in these alternate modes can be perceived comfortably. © 2016 IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.

Elizabeth Rufus

Department of Sensor and Biomedical Technology

School of Electronics Engineering

Vellore Campus

Thomas A

Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is a private university located in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 1984, as Vellore Engineering College, the institution offers 20 undergraduate, 34 postgraduate, four integrated and four research programs. It has campuses in Vellore, Amravati, Bhopal and Chennai.

VIT is one of the top ranked private universities in India according to NIRF, THE and QS Rankings.&nbsp;Govt. of India has recognized&nbsp;VIT, Vellore as an&nbsp;Institution of Eminence. This has allowed VIT to take independent quality initiatives and move up in world ranking.

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VIT University

Alternate braille display designs: A review

Technology and Disability

BACKGROUND: Research focusses on providing economical and effective tactile readers which incorporate relative motion between the fingertip and the reading text. OBJECTIVE: Here, a novel design and prototype of a tactile reader is proposed for blind Braille and non-Braille users based on the sequential reading of text when using a single cell reader. METHODS: The accuracy of reading words using this design was evaluated on 17 visually challenged users who know Braille. With a slight modification in the design to benefit non-braille users, the reading of words on 10 blind-folded sighted individuals and 12 late-blind visually challenged users was investigated. Differences in recognition of English letters formed by dots and lines were explored. RESULTS: The results showed no significant difference in accuracy when reading words with this prototype compared to braille reading on paper. The percentage accuracy in reading words for the 39 users was 98.62% for blind braille readers, 90% for blindfolded sighted users and 96.8% for blind non-braille users. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that the proposed design for tactile reading can potentially benefit both groups of visually challenged users-those who know braille and those who do not. © 2019-IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.

Exploring the design of a tactile reader for braille and non-braille users

Unlike sighted readers who read whole words at a glance, braille readers construct words sequentially processing them character by character as their tactual field of view is small. Using this aspect of braille reading, we conducted an experimental study to investigate whether nonsensical characters moving under the reading finger would be a hindrance in reading words. We used a prototype to display braille with a single actuator. There is a lateral presentation of text to the user using a 3D printed braille embossed disc which rotates under the reading finger of the blind person. Preliminary test results indicate that users can read words even as nonsensical letters brush past the reading finger. This feature has implications in the design of a cost effective braille display. © 2017, IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.

Fulltext

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Volume 4: 18th Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference; 2013 ASME/IEEE International Conference on Mechatronic and Embedded Systems and Applications

Application of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) Based Actuation for Refreshable Display of Braille

Journal	Technology and Disability
Publisher	IOS Press
ISSN	1055-4181
Open Access	0